


Dingledooder

by demonsushi01



Series: Klance Trope Month 2k20 [31]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Biting, Bodyswap, M/M, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Oops, POV Alternating, POV Keith (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), Rated M for later Chapters, Technically?, finding out the others feelings from talks with friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:35:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24567820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonsushi01/pseuds/demonsushi01
Summary: Day 31. Free Day // Body SwapLance and Keith both fight while Lance has the mind meld machine on. It zaps them both and they end up in the others body. Now they just have to keep the whole thing hushed until it corrects itself and pray that their feelings don't get exposed at the same time.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Klance Trope Month 2k20 [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727086
Comments: 54
Kudos: 272





	1. Busted

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo boy!  
> This ended up being a lot longer than expected and I must apologize. This is gonna take a few chapters to get out.  
> Thank you for your patience <3
> 
> This first chapter is in Lance's POV

They, as a team, collectively get their asses handed to them on a level three training bot, which Lance finds to be laughably pathetic. How is it they can individually go so far in the levels and even exceed in the actual battlefront, but do so poorly during training? He doesn’t understand and, frankly, neither do the Alteans. Allura very specifically hounds them for the most recent failure while Shiro tries to placate her. It’s not going very well and the other paladins groan. 

“You know what training exercise I liked? The mind-meld thing. That was fun.” Lance sighs. 

“The what?” Allura furrows her brows and turns her attention to him. 

“The mind-meld.” He makes a vague gesture to his head that he hopes conveys the shape of the weird headbands they had to wear that one day.

“Oh! You mean the Dindlemm.” Coran corrects him.

“Dindlemm,” Lance repeats in a flat tone.

“That sounds fake.” Pidge grunts from where they’re laying on the floor.

“Well, it’s not.” Coran huffs, crossing his arms.

“Wow, that was _ages_ ago. But yeah, the mind-meld thing was cool. At least until Pidge was freaking out about me being in their brain.” Hunk chuckles.

“I didn’t want you poking through my thoughts!” They growl.

“Can we practice on that thing instead?” Lance asks. Allura sighs and relents on the grounds they need to strengthen their bonds as paladins as much as they need to strengthen their bodies. Coran eagerly gets out the headbands and passes one to each paladin. 

Lance puts his on first and sits criss-cross-applesauce on the floor. Keith grumbles but sits on his right and Hunk takes his left. Pidge sits across from him and Shiro next to Keith. Coran claps his hands together as he explains what they’re going to need to do for the exercise and then turns on the Dindlemms. 

It’s much like when they come together as Voltron, five separate consciousnesses pouring into one sole being. He feels smaller, stronger, taller, faster, and yet just like himself at the same time. One thought triggers another thought in someone else and it all works together in a strange sense of harmony.

Or well, it’s _supposed_ to. It’s how it works _in_ Voltron itself, piggybacking off the energy from their Lions. Here in the training room, there’s nothing to carry them or offer any form of shielding from the barrage of four more inputs into his brain. It works, but only _sorta_. Especially since he can feel his other teammates are trying to hold back.

It’s frustrating, to say the least. This is supposed to be one of the things that they’re all _good_ at after all. Coming together as one to save the lives of many. So why isn’t it as easy as it normally is?

“God, Lance, can you shut your mind up for one second?” Keith snaps at him. Lance opens his eyes, not sure when he’d even closed them in the first place. 

“Oh whatever, Keith.” He frees one of his legs to kick him in the thigh. Keith glares at him and Lance sticks his tongue out at him. 

It sucks, for a multitude of reasons. For one thing, just looking at Keith most of the time is enough to give him severe palpitations and the sweatiest palms imaginable. One of those is a health concern and the other is just plain gross. He doesn’t understand the body’s need to make his hands sweaty, it doesn’t help him do anything honestly.

The other reason it sucks is because, well, they’re a team damn it. They’re barely friends, to begin with even after spending what feels like years out in space. Though that isn’t entirely his fault, Lance did a lot of the damage himself with the whole ‘rivalry’ thing after all. So what if he’s figured out his feelings aren’t that of rivals? It doesn’t matter when the only way to get _any_ reaction out of him is by being a douche.

“Oh my god, your mind is so loud,” Pidge comments next. 

“No, it’s not, shut up!” Lance shouts at them.

“It’s not Pidge’s fault your brain can’t stop for two seconds.” Keith scoffs under his breath. Lance kicks his thigh again and it seems to be all Keith needs to lunge over for him. Lance screeches as Keith pins him down.

“Alright, knock it off you two,” Shiro calls, getting up to separate the boys. 

“Yes, I do agree with number one,” Coran says. “After all, the Dindlemms are fragile pieces of technology. One wrong move and they can certainly zap you into the next dimension.” He chuckles. Everyone freezes.

“Wait, do you seriously mean that?” Hunk asks. 

“Not the next dimension no, but they _are_ fragile. Zapping tends to leave you with an out of body experience for a few days.” Allura explains. 

“Out of body?” Pidge raises their brows.

“Yes. Usually, it fades in a few days, though since none of you are Alteans it’s hard to say how long the experience would last.”

“So it’s like a coma?” Hunk wrings his hands together.

“Or are we talking about someone who just chugged a crap-ton of cactus juice?” Pidge asks. 

“What fucking cacti are you drinking from?” Keith asks them with a concerned look. 

“I’m not sure what a coma is, or about cacti, but I know it’s only a temporary set back,” Coran informs them.

“All in favor of taking these off before we get our souls punched out of our bodies say, ‘Aye’.” Pidge looks to the team.

“Aye.” Is the unanimous vote from the paladins. 

“All oppose, same sign.”

“Aye?” Allura tilts her head curiously.

“Well, you’re outvoted.” Pidge shrugs and pulls their Dindlemm off, passing it to a slightly saddened Coran. Keith rolls off of Lance to hand his Dindlemm over, heading for the showers, Hunk, Shiro, and Pidge right behind him. 

Lance sighs and pulls his Dindlemm off as well. He looks it over in his hands and then passes it over.

“Thanks for letting us use these,” Lance says.

“Ah, it’s no problem at all, Lance.” Coran smiles as he puts them away. Allura shakes her head as she bids the pair farewell. 

“Hey, can I ask something?” Lance plays with his fingers.

“Of course.” Coran looks over to him.

“What if someone used the Dindlemms alone? Since there’s no other mind to connect to would it just be… y’know, blank or something?”

“Not quite.” Coran shakes his head. “Using them alone is actually a great meditation tool as well. It lets you focus on your own thoughts and feelings and gives you a safe space to explore the inner workings of your mind.” 

“Oh, that’s, actually kind of cool.” Lance whistles. Coran tries to imitate the sound but doesn’t do it too well. He twitches his mustache and asks Lance to teach him how to make the sound some other time. 

A while later, most of the team has disbanded after dinner to do their own things, Lance finds himself in the training room again. He grabs a Dindlemm and puts it on, sitting on the floor and closing his eyes. 

“Okay me, let’s try to sort our shit out, huh?” He mumbles as he takes slow and deep breaths. 

He focuses on his feelings. It’s the main reason he’s here after all. While a part of him does know _exactly_ what it is he feels to Keith, another part of him is still vehemently in denial about it all. To the point where he’s not even sure if he _wants_ to do anything about it and it’s so strange. He’s a person who loves with all his heart and knowing a part of him is afraid to be with Keith is confusing.

He has to know what he’s struggling against, what he can do to fix it, maybe then he can get either all on-board with the Keith train or finally hop off and land firmly in Friendship Town. But instead of getting anything incredibly ground-breaking or insightful, he’s only getting his exact thoughts mirrored back to him. 

“Come on.” He hisses softly, trying to really focus on his feelings and what they could mean, especially pushing on the one twisted and confused knot in his heart. He needs this answer so that he could maybe have a functioning talk to Keith about it all later.

“What are you doing in here?” He hears Keith groan. He opens his eyes and tilts his head back to watch Keith enter the training room.

“None of your beeswax.” Lance finds himself rolling over and pushing himself up to his feet.

“Is that the mind-meld machine?” Keith asks.

“And if it is?” He raises an eyebrow.

“You shouldn’t be playing with it.” 

“I’m not playing with it. Coran said it can be used for meditating.” He crosses his arms. “Not that you know anything about that I’m guessing.”

“I _know_ how to meditate,” Keith grumbles as he steps over to Lance.

“Good.” Lance sticks his tongue out at him. 

“You _seriously_ shouldn’t be playing with it though.”

“And what are you going to do about it, tattle on me?”

“I could. Shiro, Coran, hell even Allura might not appreciate one of their own to be incapacitated for a fight because he was too busy dicking around with a machine.” Keith shrugs. 

“You’re awful, you know that, right?” Lance rolls his eyes.

“Just take the stupid thing off.” 

“Make me.” 

“Fine.” Keith reaches over and his hand snags on the Dindlemm. Lance yelps, knocking his hand away from him out of instinct. It seems to have only angered Keith though. He swipes more aggressively for the headband, trying to snag it off his head by force if needed. Lance does his best to dodge Keith, trying to keep the fragile machine in one piece. Which is a fact that Keith seems to have forgotten after all. Lance pushes at Keith’s chest and they both pause for a moment, staring at one another. 

Lance can hear the songs from those old wild west movies his Mima would watch when she was in a _mood_. They stare each other down, fingers twitching at their sides as they slowly circle each other. 

“Take the thing off,” Keith tells him. 

“I had planned on it, but now that you’re ordering me, I don’t want to.” Lance huffs. Keith charges forward and Lance yelps. Keith hooks his arm around his neck and pulls Lance closer. His fingers grab the device as Lance jerks away, shoving at Keith forcefully once again. 

And then he’s being zapped. A jolt of electricity running down his spine, to his fingertips, and along his legs. Then it feels like he’s being pulled out from his belly button, his head spinning. The last thing he’s conscious of is his legs hitting the ground under him as he collapses from the shock.


	2. Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is in Keith's POV

Keith groans as he comes to. His body feels compressed, stretched out, and all-around weird. Perhaps it’s a side effect of being shocked and then feeling like you were sucked through a straw. He hisses and rubs his head where the majority of the ache comes from. He looks up at the ceiling and notices there’s something _different_ about it.

It’s almost _duller_ in color and the lights aren’t as harsh on his eyes. He blinks a few times trying to make sure it’s not just in his head and then wonders what the hell happened. Then it hits him very quickly. He’d come into the training room to work out and distract his mind from his most recent talk with Shiro about his _feelings_. 

And of course, upon entering the room, the object of said _feelings_ was sitting on the floor, obviously agitated about something. It made Keith anxious when he saw Lance was playing with the dingle-whatever. It wasn’t a toy after all, and he didn’t want Shiro or worse _Allura_ to come in and yell at him. He’d tried to take it away but Lance was being his usual dickish self. 

He pushes himself upright, ready to chew Lance out when he freezes. Laying across from him is his own _body._ Keith watches in horror as his body twitches and groans, slowly sitting up as well. _This isn’t happening._ His mouth feels incredibly dry as his heart pounds in his chest. Keith’s body opens its eyes and stares back at him. 

There’s a moment of silence as his body registers what’s going on, eyebrows drawing down in confusion, mouth forming silent words, and then a clear as day panic washes over his face. 

“Oh my god.” His body says, scrambling backward. “What the fuck, what the _fuck_.” His body touches his neck, his face, jerks when it stares at his hands. His body looks back up at him and Keith can see the stress. It licks his lips as it shakes.

“Keith?” It asks, afraid.

“...Yeah.” He nods, pausing when he doesn’t recognize his own voice. He glances down at his own hands, light brown skin stretched over long and thin fingers. 

“Fuck.” His body says.

“...Lance?” Keith looks back at his body. 

“Yeah.” He says back.

“You -- You’re in my body? And I’m in yours?” 

“I think so.” Lance pushes himself up to his feet, staggering a bit. Keith finds himself doing the same and his brain hiccups for a moment. He _knows_ Lance is taller than him, though not by much, and the sensation of it makes Keith feel off-kilter. He has no doubt Lance is feeling the same way.

“This is fine.” Keith runs his hand through his now much shorter hair. 

“We need to tell Coran.” Lance goes to turn but Keith manages to snag his arm. _Does his arm always feel like that thick?_ He stares at his own forearm and then shakes his head.

“We’re not going to tell them.”

“We have to,” Lance stoops down and picks up the machine. “We broke it, swapped bodies, and he’d know what to do to fix it.”

“We don’t have to tell him at all.” 

“Oh, so when it was just _me_ getting into trouble it was fine?” Lance crosses his arms. And Keith can’t help but bite at the bait being laid out for him if nothing else but for the sake of normalcy.

“What’s that thing you say… _Obvio._ ” It rolls off his tongue like he’s said it a million times, muscle memory preserving Lance’s mother tongue. He finds himself smirking, despite the situation they’re in.

“Ugh.” Lance rolls his eyes and plays with the broken mechanism in his hands. Keith thinks quickly trying to figure out the best way to make sure that Lance won’t rat them both out.

“Look, Coran and Allura said this ‘out-of-body experience’ eventually corrects itself, right? We just need to go with it for a bit and then we’ll wake up in our own bodies like nothing happened.” He tries to appeal to Lance’s sense of logic. Because if they stay like this, even if it's for a few more days, he won't have to talk to Lance about the way he makes him feel. 

“Yeah, and what if it _doesn’t_ because we’re not _Altean_.” Lance rests a hand on his hip. His point is far better than Keith's is. Which means he has to resort to a low blow, their one-upmanship.

“You’re just afraid that _I’m_ a better Lance than _you’re_ a better Keith.” He shrugs and just hearing him say those words with Lance’s voice has already gotten him on edge. 

“What.” Lance’s body shifts, Keith recognizes it, knows what that feels like. He knows it to be the moment before he jumps onto something poorly thought out, riding his instincts.

“I could fool everyone that I’m Lance, no sweat, far better than you can fool them that you’re Keith.” He repeats, making sure to take on that tone he’s heard Lance use on him a million times. The tone that always makes him jump onto whatever stupid stunt Lance is trying to goad him into doing with him to see who is better.

“Bet,” Lance says, jaw flexing. That’s all Keith needs. 

“Then we hide the dingledooder and play this off.” Keith walks over to Lance.

“Dindlemm.” He corrects as he pulls it closer to his body.

“Do we have a deal?” Keith extends his hand.

“Fine. But I’m not happy about it.” Lance takes his hand. 

“Trust me, you’re going to have to get used to that.” He chuckles. Lance rolls his eyes and stashes the machine away in a dusty, unused portion of the training room.

The pair then leave the room, peering around the corners to make sure they aren’t caught. They manage to make it back safely to the paladin quarters and sigh with relief.

“Hey, wait.” Lance grabs him before he walks into his room. 

“What?”

“Wrong room.” 

“Oh.” He rubs the back of his neck. Lance pushes past him and then he’s tugging Keith into Lance’s room. 

“If you’re going to be me, I need you to follow my skincare routine. Because, I swear to god, if I come back to my body and it’s all crusty you’re a dead man.” Lance then tugs him into the small ensuite bathroom.

He starts to explain each product he has found and what it’s for and when to use it. Keith can already feel his mind getting overwhelmed with the information. 

“Okay, no. Write it all down, number your bottles, and I’ll follow it.” Keith shakes his head as he leaves the bathroom. 

“Ugh. Fine.” Lance huffs and disappears out of the room. Keith rolls his eyes as he comes back not too long later, a few small sheets of paper and a pen in hand. He watches Lance label each bottle and then write down instructions on another sheet of paper.

“Okay, now that that’s done, what do I make sure to do for you?” Lance turns to him. 

“It’s not like I do anything special.” Keith shrugs. “I mean, at least shower once a day?” 

“Of course you're naturally pretty.” Lance groans and sets his hands on his hips. _Pretty?_ He immediately mimics Lance’s pose and it clicks, Lance then crosses his arms over his chest instead. 

“By the way, since we’re going to be stuck in these bodies for a few days, I think it’s best if we say it now. I give you permission to look at my naked body.”

“Excuse me!?” Lance screeches and Keith winces at the sound of his voice cracking like that.

“Look, we’re going to need to pee, take a shower, get dressed, and undressed. We’re going to see each other naked.” Keith pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I -- Well!” Lance runs his hand through his hair. “Okay, fair! You -- you can look too, I guess.” 

“Cool.” Keith sits on Lance’s bed and pulls his shoes off, tossing them aside. 

“What are you doing?” He asks.

“Getting ready to sleep? You should try too.” Keith tells him.

“Right… Yeah.” Lance looks around the room and sighs. 

“Look, if you need something from in here, take it. It’s not like Shiro raids my room.” Keith shrugs. Lance leans over him and opens a small cubby by the foot of the bed. He gets out his sleep mask and headphones before closing the cubby again.

“Good night, Keith.” Lance pauses before the door. “Wow that uh, that sounded weird out loud.”

“Just a little.” He agrees. 

“Um. I’m just gonna…” 

“Night.” Keith waves and watches Lance scamper out of the room. 

He can tell this is going to be a mess and a half. He has no _clue_ how to even start pretending to be Lance. Maybe they should have gone over mannerisms before parting ways. It’s too late now, he supposes. He gets up and checks on the list that Lance made for him to follow. It all sounds easy enough, he supposes.

He then turns to the shower and decides to deal with it in the morning for now. He leaves the bathroom and flops down against the bed. Maybe it’ll be over with minimal consequences by the time he wakes up in the morning. 

It is _not_ fixed in the morning.

In fact, he wakes up at what feels like _too_ early. It takes him a while before he finds Lance’s datapad to check the time onboard the castle. It’s approximately six forty-five in the morning and he’s _wide_ awake. 

“What the fuck.” He groans and rolls over, trying to go back to sleep. But Lance’s body refuses to do so and Keith gets himself up. Nothing more important than the pressing matter of his bladder at least. 

After a piss with as little eye contact on his dick as possible, he turns to the shower once again. Keith takes a breath and reminds himself of Lance’s permission before he pulls his clothes off. Then he’s stepping into the shower to scrub himself down. 

_A quick peek wouldn’t hurt, right?_ He groans and hates his curiosity. Then he’s looking down Lance’s body. He’s got a nice chest, a tapered waist, and more muscle tone than he had been expecting all around. His eyes fall lower, down long legs and then finally shifts his gaze to Lance’s dick.

It certainly looks different compared to his, that’s for sure. One, it’s a bit slimmer than his but it’s longer so that equals out he supposes. Two, foreskin. Lance has it and he certainly doesn’t. It’s bizarre to him, but he rolls with it. Three, well, it’s got a nice rosy tip much like any other dick he’s seen before. 

And now that he’s been staring at it, it twitches and he’s quick to turn the water to ice cold in the shower. He might have permission to see, but he doesn’t have permission to touch. _Yet_. He dunks his head in the water and groans. 

Then he’s getting out and drying off. He dabs on a small amount of the cream he’s supposed to put on his face, then he’s getting dressed. He steps out and nearly runs into Hunk. _Fuck._ It’s the last thing he’d wanted to deal with.

“Oh, hey man!” Hunk smiles and wraps an arm around his shoulders. “How’d you sleep?” He asks. Keith takes a minute, trying to figure out what Lance would do in this situation.

“I slept alright. You?” 

“Man I had an awful dream last night. Remember the nightmare I was telling you about the other day?” Hunk pulls him along and Keith has no choice but to follow.

“Uh… Y-yeah! I remember.” He lies.

“Ugh, it came back, but this time it was _way_ longer. But! On the bright side, I now know how to make that dish work in real life.” He nods sagely and lets go of his shoulders once in the kitchen. 

“You did?”

“Yeah. Just don’t expect me to make it anytime soon.” Hunk laughs as he grabs a bowl from the cupboard and sets it on the counter. Keith walks over and leans against the counter next to it, arms crossing over his chest as he observes Hunk flit about. 

“...You’re uh, awfully quiet.” Hunk comments as he’s halfway through mixing something in the bowl.

“I am?”

“You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, totally. Just, thinking I guess?” Keith winces. Hunk is Lance’s best friend from what he knows and therefore Hunk would probably be the first one to notice that something about him is off. 

“Mmm.” Hunk looks at his mix. “Is it about Keith?” What would Lance do? He’d be honest.

“Sorta?” He shrugs. Hunk pauses and looks over at him.

“Are you going to tell him today?” _Tell me what?_

“Eh, I don’t know.” He sighs.

“You seemed so sure yesterday.” Hunk frowns.

“Yeah, well, I’ve been thinking about it is all.”

“Well, you know where Pidge and I are if you _do_ go tell him and things go south.” 

“I know, thanks,” He pauses as he racks his brain for a nickname Lance has used before. “Big guy.” Hunk shakes his head with a small smile. _Nailed it._

“I think you _should_ talk to him. Maybe then you two will stop fighting all the time.” 

“Doubt it,” Keith mutters and Hunk doesn’t seem to catch it. Pidge comes in not too long after and Keith can feel himself starting to stress out. But thankfully Pidge strikes up a conversation with Hunk about some project they’re working on and he relaxes immediately. 

He doesn’t need to interact with the two if they’re busy being math nerds together. He’s never seen Lance participate in these long-winded discussions between the pair either. But when the topic moves onto chemical compounds and the combination of them Keith finds himself frowning at one of their ideas.

“...I don’t think you should combine those two.” Keith pipes up. Pidge and Hunk both pause and blink, turning to him with confused expressions.

“What?” Pidge tilts their head.

“Um, just, y’know combining those chemicals aren’t safe.” He shrugs. “Unless you _want_ nitroglycerin.” The two stare at him for a few more moments before Hunk hums and nods.

“You know, Lance is right on this one. We’d have to find an alternative.” 

“When did you become a chemist?” Pidge asks him curiously. 

“I just know how to --” He cuts himself off. _Lance_ doesn’t know how to jerry-rig explosives together like _Keith_ does. 

“How to?”

“Listen to you talk?” He offers weakly. “Maybe your big brains are rubbing off on me.” He tries to do the thing he’s seen Lance do, cock his head back and smirk proudly while puffing his chest out.

“Or maybe all the tutoring I gave you back at the Garrison for chem is paying off.” Hunk chuckles.

“Oh, come on! Let me be smart too.” 

Shiro and Allura enter the room shortly after, mostly just to check on everyone. Shiro, he notices frowns slightly, concern hanging on the edge of his eyes. Hunk shoos everyone out of his kitchen and they move to the dining room. Coran is there, making sure the table is nicely set.

No sign of his body and therefore, no sign of Lance. No wonder Shiro looks worried. Keith notices when he slips silently out of the room, heading for the paladin quarters. No doubt Lance is about to be woken up by him. Keith groans softly and just sits in his usual seat.

“Ooo, sitting in _Keith’s_ chair. You trying to piss him off this early?” Pidge asks. 

“What?” He looks over to them.

“I mean yeah, technically none of the seats are assigned, but it’s like classes at the Garrison you know? I’ve sat here every day for the last three weeks, this is _my_ seat now.” 

“I uh…” He doesn’t know if to get up and sit in Lance’s place or stay where he’s at for the time being. His choice is made _for_ him when Hunk brings out everyone’s food. Even he blinks for a second before setting Lance’s plate in front of him. 

“Wasn’t Shiro up just a minute ago?” Hunk asks.

“I believe he went to wake Keith up.” Allura mentions. He nods and sets their plates down in the appropriate places. 

Sure enough, Keith’s body with Lance as it’s pilot stumbles in with Shiro right behind him. He looks like he hadn’t slept at all last night and he sits heavily in his seat, not once noticing it’s the _wrong_ one. 

“Dude, you look like shit.” Pidge grunts. 

“I’m so _tired_. How am I _so_ tired?” He turns to Keith for an explanation.

“Maybe it’s a _Galra_ thing?” It’s the best he can offer in the presence of the _entire_ team. 

“That’s stupid.” Lance whines. “That’s like the dumbest thing ever.” Keith kicks him under the table to get him to shut up. Lance retaliates by slapping his arm back instantly.

“No fighting at the table.” Shiro scolds them. Keith barely contains his eye roll and mouthy response. 

Breakfast continues without any further incidents. They’re handed a list of chores and they part ways to complete them. _Lance_ is being assigned to wash the cryopods, which he has no clue how to do. _Keith_ is told to go clean the training room, which at least works out on that end. Keith stares at the bucket full of some _strong_ smelling liquid where a rag floats sadly in. 

“Why am I cleaning these?” He groans and makes sure the pods are all standing up and empty. “I thought it was a ‘you used it, you clean it’ situation.” Keith pulls Lance’s jacket off and sets it aside. He knows his complaints are falling on an empty room, it helps his temper by voicing it. 

He scrubs aggressively at the first pod, not sure _what_ makes them dirty in the first place. They don’t even have a strange smell to them. In fact, he spends enough time scrubbing down the first pod that by the time he moves to the second one Lance pilots Keith’s body into the med bay.

“How’s it going?” He asks with far too much pep.

“I have no fucking clue what I’m doing.” Keith grumbles, wringing out the rag and scrubbing the second pod’s walls.

“I’m _so_ glad I’m not doing that today.” Lances leans against the first one. Keith rolls his eyes and continues to scrub. He pulls a face at his wrinkled and pruned fingertips before looking at the other six remaining pods. This is going to take him far too long and his only hope is if he can convince Lance to help him.

“Come on, you’ve at least done this before. Help me out?” He looks over to Lance. 

“Nope.” He pops the ‘p’ and Keith sighs. He picks up his bucket and moves to the third one. 

“I don’t even know what’s wrong with these pods anyway.” He dunks the rag and wrings it out before scrubbing at its sides again. 

“It’s just disinfecting really,” Lance tells him, staying against the first pod. 

“Yeah, well, I still don’t know what I’m doing.” At least with the company here he feels like he’s moving faster. It _also_ helps that Lance tells him it’s mainly for disinfecting not cleanliness. 

“It’s fine, man. Trust me, I figured it out.” Lance tries to reassure him. 

“Then I guess I’m just fucking _stupid_.” He hisses as he moves to pod four. 

“No, you’re not!” Lance yells and it startles him. He looks over his shoulder and finds a _pissed_ looking expression twisted on his face as Lance storms over. He almost drops the bucket and glances around for a place to disappear to. 

“You’re not _stupid_ ,” His hands settle on his shoulders. “Do you understand me? You are _not_ stupid.” Lance glares down at him. There’s a fire in his eyes as he holds Keith. He eventually nods and Lance finally lets him go. Then he’s moving and getting a second rag.

With Lance’s help, they get through the last of the pods rather quickly and continue to mop the floor and wipe down the countertops. They dump the water down the drain and toss the wet rags down the laundry chute. They stand side-by-side as they look around.

“Hey um, thanks.” Keith rubs the back of his neck.

“Yeah. Just know I expect help cleaning this place up next time.” Lance looks away with a blush on his face. And something about seeing that makes his heart stutter in his chest with a prickling feeling in his palms. 

“Of course.” He mumbles. Lance glances over at him and sighs. 

“Okay, um. Why can’t I sleep?” 

“Oh.” He blinks and looks around, making sure no one else is in here still. “Well honestly, I figure it’s something to do with Galra genetics? Humans are diurnal and I think the Galra might be more of a _crepuscular_ species? So it throws my circadian rhythm off.”

“He says with a straight face.” Lance rubs his face and groans.

“I mean, I’ve lived with it all my life. I guess I’m _mentally_ used to it?” He shrugs.

“Ugh. Give me some tips then. How do I make this body go the heck to sleep?” 

“Easy. Train.” 

“Ew. No.” Lance scrunches up his nose.

“Look, if you train until you’re drained, you’ll sleep like a baby,” Keith tells him. 

“There has to be another way.” Lance crosses his arms.

“...I mean.” Keith makes a fist and jerks it a few times up and down.

“Whack off!?” Lance turns bright red.

“Yeah. I rub one out and I’m out for the night.” He shrugs.

“I’m not just gonna --”

“I will literally give you my permission if that’s what you need.” Keith rolls his eyes. 

“I -- Thanks, I guess.” Lance covers his face. Keith waits quietly, wondering if Lance would agree to the same terms. When nothing happens he makes a comment on it.

“So… can I --?”

“No!” 

“Ugh, fine.” 

“Too curious for your own good, aren’t you?” Lance crosses his arms. 

“I’m not. I was just seeing if I could. I’m not a dick though so I’m not going to cross your boundaries.” Keith shrugs. Lance smirks and that definitely does something to his heart in a way that confuses him. He reaches over and pats his jaw. 

“Good boy.” He winks and then walks away. And those two words apparently have a much stronger impact on Lance’s body than he thought it would. It sparks an interest in his gut and lower and he wants to throw himself out of the nearest airlock. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for the delay! I've gone ahead and posted the first two chapters for you all while I continue to finish this thing up 
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments below or over at demon-sushi on Tumblr <3


	3. Permission Slip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is in Lance's POV

Lance has a few gripes about being in Keith’s body. One of them is how everything is just _too much_ now. It’s too bright, too loud, everything feels weird under his fingers and smells strange. He can _actually_ pick out the individual scents of his teammates and accurately be able to locate them due to it, though he can’t exactly name what the scents are other than the name of the person. 

Sensory overload happens quickly, frequently, and he finds himself near a sense of panic any time the team has to come together for anything. It’s no wonder Keith always _looks_ grumpy. Most of his favorite snacks that Hunk makes, he can’t eat due to it feeling weird in his mouth to the point of almost gagging. He can’t walk past a room without hearing the conversation that’s going on inside it, with crystal clarity. He can’t step into the storage room for the kitchen because he can pinpoint exactly what’s now rotting in there and it makes him ill. So, it’s annoying.

The second gripe he has is being unable to _sleep_. He honestly does try to go with Keith’s suggestion of training. But there’s not much he can do. The red bayard in his hands turns into his pistol or his rifle, but not a sword. It’s not as physical. He does try to fistfight the bots that come down, muscle memory guiding him for the most part, but he just gets kicked around more than anything else.

And apparently, getting his ass handed to him only makes him more _awake_. At one point his whole field of vision _shifted_ as his heart hammered at his chest and he felt this _surge_ of strength come from nowhere. Tearing the bot in half thanks to it was terrifying to Lance, but oh so satisfying at the same time. He hasn’t gone back to the training room since. 

Which means he tries his usual methods that work on him. Some nights it works, other nights not so much. On the nights it _does_ work there’s another chance he might wake up in the dead of night needing to _run_ or do _something_. This leaves him doing pacer test sprints in his room or some other form of quick exercise he can think of. He hates it, doesn’t understand it, and wonders if Keith _really_ does this every night. 

Keith even comes into his room because he can hear Lance running around, to check on him. He sits heavily on his bed and watches Lance run as he struggles to stay awake. And when Lance asks if this is normal for Keith, he tells him it is.

It’s normal to rip robots in half with his bare hands, though he’s asked to not do that in front of the team. It’s normal to wake up from being dead asleep with the need to be active. It’s normal to be frayed on the edges from all the lights and sounds and smells. It’s normal for his nails to grow as quickly as they do and for his flipping dick to have a purple tint to it.

 _It’s normal_.

And Lance wonders how the hell Keith has kept this all hidden from the team, to begin with. Hell, he wonders how Keith found it at all surprising that he _wasn’t_ entirely human. Lance growls, _legitimately growls_ , in frustration to the bored tone Keith has when telling him about it all. He flops down in the bed, sweaty and gross, next to him. 

“You keep acting like every little thing is the end of the world.” Keith murmurs.

“It’s not that it’s the end of the world! It’s just so _weird_. I shouldn’t have this _need_ to wake up and do a 5k marathon.” Lance glares up at him. 

“I get it.” 

“I don’t think you do!” 

“That’s _my_ body, Lance. If anyone knows about how fucking _weird_ it is, it’s me.” Keith crosses his arms. And he’s got a point. Lance doesn’t like it, but he rolls to face Keith better. 

“How did you not know you were half-alien? Everything seems so _obvious_.” 

“It’s obvious _now_ , sure. But, I honestly had nothing to really compare it to.”

“Not even friends?” Lance raises a skeptical eyebrow. Keith falls silent and looks away. 

“...You and the team are the only friends I’ve _actually_ had.” He whispers after a moment.

“Oh.” Lance… isn’t sure how to feel about that.

“My dad passed away when I was eight and I had been homeschooled. Then I was just tossed around in the foster care system until Shiro found me. By then I had just accepted that I was weird and that was it.”

“Just like that?” He finds himself actually rolling once more to sit next to Keith.

“I mean, other than it being _forcibly trained_ out of me?” He looks over to Lance.

“What?” 

“They figured I had _issues_ and put me on a variety of meds hoping it’d work and occasionally restrain me from doing,” He gestures to the room and how Lance was running before. “I didn’t develop healthy boundaries and coping mechanisms until the Garrison. Even then it was _limited_.” Keith brings a leg in and rests his chin on top of it. 

“Then you got booted from the Garrison.” 

“I ran away from the Garrison.” He corrects. Lance looks over at him and studies his own face. This personal side of Keith has been coming out more and more in the last week since they swapped bodies. Not only has he learned about the things this body is capable of but he’s learning about Keith himself in the process. 

“Besides, it’s not like your body isn’t weird either.” Keith glances over at him. 

“What!? My body is perfectly _fine_ thank you.” Lance huffs.

“Sometimes you’re this deep sleeper, but then most of the time you sleep so lightly. I wake up because I can hear you skittering around in here. What’s up with that?” 

“I have to! My house is full of people and maybe one of the little ones might need their Tio Lance to help them go back to sleep, or my brother on the top bunk would get sick, hell even the dog I was hiding from my parents would need to be let out at night in secrecy.” Lance shrugs a shoulder. 

“You wake up _hard_ too.” Keith points out.

“I -- Yes! Most people do!” Lance feels his face heat up. “Is that why you had a boner in the middle of breakfast?”

“Well I couldn’t pee, and nothing I was thinking was making it go away.” Keith rolls his eyes.

“You know what, fine. Do what you have to do to take care of it. God, I was dying from embarrassment from Hunk glancing over at it.” Lance covers his face. 

“Thank god.” 

“Bet it’s what you’ve been wanting to do isn’t it, you perv.” Lance peeks out from between his fingers.

“No, but I’m just glad to have a quicker way of taking care of it now.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“What about you consistently waking up at six forty-five on the dot, every day, no matter when you went to sleep?” Keith raises an eyebrow.

“My dad would get up at that time. So if I did too I got the same, nicely cooked, breakfast my mom would make. If I slept in, I’d have to have whatever my older siblings prepared. Honestly, I’d rather have mi ama’s huevito,” He winces at his accent. “Over my sibling’s cereal monstrosity.” He shakes his head and he gets to hear _his_ soft laugh come from Keith. It makes his heart squeeze in his chest and the air is sucked out of his lungs. It’s such a strange visceral reaction it makes him dizzy. 

“Yeah okay, fine.” Keith dismisses his complaint with a wave of his hand. Lance can catch the whiff of what he only knows as _Lance_ with this almost amused undercurrent to it. 

It’s how he finds himself shifting, moving until his head is pressed against his shoulder. Lance finds something ultimately calming and soothing about the scent of _Lance_ even if the thought of it makes his head hurt a bit to understand. Keith stiffens but slowly relaxes. 

“How’s your week been so far?” Lance asks him.

“I mean, Hunk keeps asking if we’ve talked. I have no context so I’ve been telling him no.” Keith shrugs.

“Ugh. Yeah, just keep telling him no.”

“I mean, I could tell him 'yes' to get him off my back?”

“No, because he’d want details about it and if you don’t give them to him he’d get suspicious.”

“We could rehearse it?”

“He’d know you’re lying,” Lance tells him. “Just keep telling him you haven’t spoken to me yet. It’s for the best.” 

“Okay.” Keith hums, his head tilting and resting on his.

“...How long are we gonna keep this up?” Lance asks.

“As long as it takes.”

“And if we _never_ go back?”

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get there.” 

“Wow.” Lance rolls his eyes. 

“Look, all I’m saying is that we _will_ go back to our original bodies. It’s a gut feeling I have.” 

“The longer we keep pretending, the more trouble we’re going to get into when everyone finds out.” Lance frowns.

“ _If_ they find out.”

“Listen here you Disney Hercules demon.” Lance squints up at him. Keith simply chuckles and shakes his head in response. 

“I’m just saying, we’re doing great so far. Sure Hunk believes you’re now _thinking_ too much but y’know.” Keith shrugs. 

“Hunk is totally onto you man.” Lance chuckles.

“What about Shiro?”

“Honestly, I can’t tell. I’ve never quite seen him act this way before so,” He shrugs the best he can. “Also is he always so aggressive with getting you up in the mornings?”

“Oh yeah. Just be thankful he doesn’t have access to the tools he had back home.”

“Like what?” Lance looks up at him.

“Squirt guns, pots, and pans, hell he used one of those whistles the gym teachers had. Worst wakeup call ever.” Keith groans.

“I mean, the worst I’d usually get was my oldest brother farting on my face. Which is _another_ reason I’m sometimes a very light sleeper.” Lance whines and Keith chuckles. The conversation falls silent but he can’t help but feel there’s something _here_ , unspoken between them at this moment. 

He wakes up more rested than before, sure, but also with quite an aching body one gets from sleeping sitting up and with a crooked neck. Keith thankfully agrees on the sentiment of being sore. They both stare at one another for a moment, another _unspoken_ series of words trapped behind their teeth. 

Keith gets up first to make sure he can sneak out of the room without being caught by his nosey friends. Lance sighs in relief when he gets the message from his datapad saying he’s been corralled by Hunk to do some kitchen thing. Lance chuckles and shakes his head. He fully intends on going back to sleep when there’s a knock on his door. 

“Come in.” He groans. 

Shiro steps into his room with a look on his face that Lance has seen on his older siblings far too many times. He’s instantly reminded of every rude awakening filled with pinches, ear pulls, and hair tugs that Shiro has given him to get him up. It has Lance on his feet before he can get too close, to let him know it’d be an unneeded event.

“So,” Shiro settles his hands on his hips. “How’d it go with _Lance_?” It’s a loaded question and he isn’t sure how to answer.

“What do you mean?” He tilts his head.

“I saw him leaving, not quite the walk of shame either.” Shiro snorts and leans against the wall by the bed.

“I -- What?! Why would -- No! We weren’t --” He sputters and Shiro laughs in such an honest manner that Lance hasn’t heard before.

“Well, I find it hard to believe you woke up early and had a civil conversation with him.” Shiro wipes his eyes.

“That’s too bad because it’s what we did!” Lance crosses his arms. 

“Did you really?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Yes! We stayed up last night to talk and it carried on.” He huffs. Shiro seems quite interested in this.

“You two actually _talked_? Like full on sentences and no fighting?” 

“Is it so hard to believe?”

“I want to say yes, but I _know_ you’re capable of talking when the moment is right.” Shiro gives him a warm smile. “But I have to know, what did you two talk about?” 

“Just… stuff.” He shrugs.

"So you told him?"

"Told him what?"

“Your _feelings_ for him?” 

“My… my what?” Lance blinks as he takes in this information. Shiro rolls his eyes, probably assuming _Keith_ is playing around.

“You’re the one who said he’s the best thing to have happened to you.” 

“I…” _Keith said that about him?_

“I really do think you two would be good together, _if_ you can find your balance. It almost reminds me of how Adam and I were but with less hiding.” He winces at the comparison. _Who the hell is Adam?_

“Adam.” He mumbles. 

“Anyway, I think if you two can find your balance and be open to each other, and y’know don’t propose to him because you think it’ll magically fix all your issues,” He crosses his arms and looks away at the comment. “Then I think you’ll be fine.” 

“You were engaged?” Lance can’t keep his mouth from blurting out. Shiro scoffs but there’s a look of an old ache in his eyes.

“I know, I know, it was short-lived but it counts.” Lance can’t help but feel he’s now intruding on something very private and personal. Especially with it sounding like Shiro is trying to give him his blessing by advising him to not make the mistakes he’s made. It’s a strange situation and he’d honestly rather not be here for it any longer.

“Well, I mean, there’s gotta be someone else out there right?” Lance offers up and then realizes that maybe he shouldn’t have because who knows if Keith would be like this. Shiro even looks over at him with a surprised expression before smiling softly.

“There is.” He pushes himself off the wall. Now, Lance _also_ recognizes this expression from his older siblings. He gasps and tries to grab Shiro by his arm before he slips out.

“Wait, _is_ there someone else?” He asks with a big grin on his face. 

“I’m not going to say anything about it until I have my feelings figured out for sure.” Shiro chuckles and zips his lips. Lance pouts but understands. 

He follows Shiro out to the dining area for them to eat their breakfast. He notices Keith is currently absent from the table when he walks in and gives Pidge a curious look as he takes Keith’s seat. Shiro walks past him to talk with the two Alteans.

“Where’s he?” He jerks his thumb to the empty seat.

“Hunk said he went to shower.” Pidge shrugs. 

“How long ago?” Lance raises an eyebrow.

“I dunno.”

“...I knew it.” He hisses under his breath. “Bet he’s all over himself.” 

“Ew. Gross. No. I don’t want that image in my head.” Pidge groans and covers their face.

“What image?” 

“Of Lance getting off!” They screech and push his shoulders. “It’s bad enough I had to listen to some of it while _in_ the Garrison with him!”

“That just sounds like he was jerking off right next to you.” Which he knows he didn’t.

“I just wasn’t expecting that boys would be so open and honest about stuff like that until I had to room with them. _Matt_ didn’t act that way around me.”

“Well yeah, he’s your brother, not your _bro_.”

“I’m not even going to pretend that I understand what you just said.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments below or over at demon-sushi on Tumblr <3


	4. Sample

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith POV
> 
> you bet your sweet bippy Keith is gonna use his permission immediately

After almost two weeks in Lance’s body, not only does Keith have permission to do whatever he needs to for this body, but he’s actively _trying_. He’s in the middle of a shower, staring at Lance’s lovely dick and keeps trying to tell himself it’s okay to touch now. Hell, the thing even twitches in interest but in the end, he chickens out. It doesn’t sit right with him to just rub one out _after_ he _intentionally_ caused it. 

It’s a loophole that Lance probably didn’t intend for and probably one Keith’s made up in his own head. It’s enough of a thought to stop him, so instead, he turns the water to ice and finishes scrubbing himself down. He goes to eat lunch with the others when Allura and Shiro announce a round of paladin training. With a groan that’s echoed by the others as they all walk to retrieve their armor. 

He barely remembers to put on the correct color when Lance is grabbing him by his shoulder pad and pulling him out of sight of the others. He looks worried, to say the least.

“Dude, we’re so totally fucked.” He hisses.

“What do you mean?” Keith tilts his head.

“If they have us pull our bayards out they’ll totally know something’s up.” He glances over his shoulder at the team who’s starting to wrap up. Keith frowns as he considers this. It’s not something he’s thought of before when it came to this whole issue.

“It also means we might have problems piloting our lions.” Keith murmurs as his arms cross over his chest. 

“Exactly! We should just _tell_ them.” Lance gestures to the team.

“No. Everything’s going to be fine. We haven’t needed Voltron in two weeks and we haven’t been sent on any missions either. They’re just making sure we stay active and our skills don’t get rusty.” Keith tells him. 

“Okay _wise guy_ , how are we going to explain that I have guns and you have a sword now?” 

“We won’t need them.” Keith shrugs.

“Yeah, we will. Training _always_ needs them.”

“We won’t, trust me.”

“You’re so -- ugh!” He throws his hands up. 

“Everything okay over there, Lance?” Hunk calls as he sees the duo. Keith looks from Lance to Hunk. 

“Y-yeah! It’s all good.” He then turns to Lance and shrugs. “Trust me okay?” He then jogs over to Hunk who gives him a curious look. Pidge steps in, hand over their eyes.

“What are you doing?” Keith asks them.

“I saw _far_ more cock than I wanted to in the locker rooms at the Garrison. I don’t particularly _want_ to know what you three’s look like.” 

“...But there’s four of us.” Lance points out as he walks over. 

“I know what one of yours looks like already.” They shrug. 

“Who’s?” Lance squawks and Keith winces at the tone.

“Didn’t know you’d be into gossip, _Keith_.” He reminds him. Lance sticks his tongue out at him. 

“Well! We should go! To training! Like we’ve been told!” Hunk coughs and turns quite red.

“...Hunk.” Lance forgets who he is again, but Keith can’t blame him. “Hunk, wait.” But Hunk is already quickly scrambling out of the room and Lance jumps to follow. 

“Do… Do I _need_ to have a safe sex talk?” Shiro looks at Pidge. 

“Trust me, Dad, Mom, Matt, _and_ Lance have given me quite the talk already.” They groan. “I don’t need a fifth retelling for my nineteenth birthday.” Shiro turns to him. 

“You’re not nineteen.” He says instead.

“Maybe not yet, but I am comfortably eighteen so.” They shrug.

“Wait, really?” _Have they really been in space for two years?_ “I’m twenty-one?”

“Alright, we all have bad math days, but you’re only twenty, Lance.”

“Explains a lot,” Shiro mumbles as he leads the team out of the locker rooms.

“How?” Pidge asks, dropping their hand.

“Twenty-six just feels so much closer to thirty than it really is.” He jokes and opens the door for the training room.

Coran and Allura are standing in the center of the room while Lance continues to chase Hunk around. Shiro sighs and calls for their attention. They all stand in front of the Alteans, ready for their instructions. 

“Before we begin, one of the Dindlemms is missing.” Coran claps his hands together. “Number four, you were the last one to clean up, did you notice any missing?” He asks. Lance glances over to Keith and then back to Coran. 

“No sir.” He lies. Coran’s mustache twitches but he nods and accepts his answer.

“Well, if anyone knows anything, don’t hesitate to come forward about it.” Coran then steps back to let Allura speak. 

She explains the drill she’s about to run them through and Keith knows his cue is coming up. Hunk and Pidge get their bayards out, Shiro activates his arm, Lance looks over to him in a panic and Keith just turns and starts to leave. It causes Lance to make another squawk with his voice and which causes Shiro to look at what’s going on.

“Lance, where are you going?” His voice has a hard edge to it. Good thing Keith’s never been intimidated by it.

“Uhh, away?” He gives what he hopes is an embarrassed smile.

“No, you’re not.” 

“Shiro, I _really_ need to go.” He keeps backing away.

“You need to train.”

“Look, I don’t wanna shit myself in front of you all.” He groans and Lance screeches.

“Oh gross.” Pidge scrunches up their nose.

“I told you not to eat Coran’s cooking this morning,” Hunk whines and then glances over to the Altean man. “No offense, but I think you used something that might not have kept well.” 

“I…” Shiro blinks, thrown off by the claim.

“So yeah, I’ll just be in the bathroom until my ass is done exploding or whatever.” Keith salutes them all and scurries out of the room. He presses himself flat against the wall just outside and fights to keep his snickers down. He can hear Lance rush for the door before it can shut.

“I’ll go check on him!” He calls and rounds the corner. Keith grabs him before he can get far and they both slip away to the locker room. 

Lance is not happy when they get there, quickly rounding on Keith as soon as they cross the threshold. 

“What the fuck was that?!” Lance jabs his chest and Keith laughs.

“Oh come on, you’ve never been one to hide your bodily functions in front of us before. Felt natural.” 

“That was embarrassing!” Lance whines and sits on one of the benches. Keith sits next to him, nudging him with his shoulder. 

“Look, it’s the first thing I could think of to get us out of there. I’m just glad you followed my lead.”

“Trust me, I didn’t want to.” He sighs. “How long before they come looking for us?”

“Shiro probably won’t send someone for us until after they’re done with their round. At which point I can slip into one of the stalls and fake it.”

“Now you’re just being gross. You _have_ to have another idea when they come looking for us.” Lance crosses his arms. 

“I fake it and you go search for ‘medicine’?” Keith shrugs. 

“What, like space pepto?” 

“Yeah.” Keith leans back on his arms and Lance groans. 

Lance does eventually get up and go to the medbay to look for medicine to keep up their lie and Keith slips into one of the bathroom stalls. Lance does not come back before Shiro looks for them. Keith had just stepped out of the stalls making sure to dot his brow with a bit of water from the sink.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Shiro asks as he comes over.

“Oh, you know.” He shrugs. “Just pouring my guts out.” 

“Will you be okay?”

“Probably. Keith went to see if he could find me medicine.” 

“Good. It’d probably go a bit quicker if he got Coran’s assistance.” Shiro murmurs. 

“Keith’s smart.” He shrugs. Shiro nods in agreement.

“Well, we’re going to be doing another round of training and then calling it a day.”

“Alright.” He smiles weakly. Shiro pats his shoulder and then heads out. Lance bumps into him.

“Space pepto.” Lance shrugs and scurries over to Keith with a bottle of faint blue liquid inside. Keith looks at the bottle to Lance who now smirks deviously with Shiro behind him.

“Thanks, Keith.” He takes the bottle and dreads what the concoction has. Shiro lingers until he opens the bottle and tosses back his dose. He’s incredibly thankful the man is gone shortly after. He gags and coughs, it’s far too chalky and gross.

“What the fuck is this?” He hisses.

“Space pepto.” Lance smiles and shrugs. 

The rest of the team come in a bit later, except for Pidge. Hunk and Shiro both look very sweaty and Keith wonders what the hell they were subjected to. The pair hit the showers and Lance reminds Keith loudly to take his second dose of the space pepto. Keith flips him off as he does his best to keep it down a second time.

Hunk comes out of the showers first and Lance takes this as a signal to swap out of his armor. Keith follows suit and Shiro steps out of the shower as well. It’s a rather silent affair of getting undressed or drying off. Then of course Allura steps in and everyone jolts.

“Are you feeling better, Lance?” She asks him, and Keith scrambles to get himself covered up. 

“Y-yeah, I’ll uh -- I’ll recover fully before the day’s done.” 

“Excellent.” She smiles brightly and looks at the other paladins. Hunk won’t look her in the eye, keeping his towel pinned to his waist. Lance has Keith's body not facing her at all, and Shiro is bright red as he quickly finishes getting his underwear on. Allura raises a curious eyebrow at all their reactions before humming softly.

“Humans are strange.” She mumbles and then politely leaves the room. 

Everyone rushes to get dressed and out of the room. Keith is thankful for the few hours alone he gets. He continues to try and work himself up but he gets the same thought that interrupted him this morning. If he _intentionally_ causes the boner, it’s not taking care of the body as Lance said, is it? It’s frustrating, to say the least. Lance eventually taps on his door and lets him know it’s time for dinner.

Keith grumbles but comes out of the room. Keith gets the honor of witnessing the way his pupils dilate and catch the sound of Lance ever so softly sniffing the air. Keith swallows thickly, his heart pounding in his ribs as Lance leans closer to him. 

“You smell _amazing_?” He sounds confused and Keith chuckles nervously, palms getting sweaty. 

“I bet Hunk’s cooking smells better though.” He shuffles away from Lance who won’t stop staring at him. 

“Right, yeah.” Lance shakes his head as he follows him to the dining room. “Sorry about that, don’t know what happened.” 

“Don’t be, it was…” _Kinda hot apparently?_

“Was?”

“Okay. It was okay.” Keith trips on his words and darts over to his spot, _Lance’s_ _spot_ , at the table. 

Dinner starts off simple enough, most talking about little things here and there. Pidge lets them know they’ve modified their cloaking tech on Green, making it even harder for the Lion to be detected. Hunk talks about a recipe he’s still trying to work the kinks out of. Shiro asks if _Lance_ is feeling better, to which Keith agrees. Coran talks about his missing Dindlemm and that’s when Lance gets a bit squirmy, because that doesn’t seem suspicious at all.

Keith acts before registering the movement, grabbing a handful of the food goo, and flinging it into Lance’s face. He gasps and is quick to retaliate with his own handfuls. Shiro pulls them off each other after they’ve both gotten covered in the goo. He sends them both to the showers and the duo make faces at each other the entire way there. 

He might not have _wanted_ another shower, but he’d rather do this than have their secret spilled out. He just has to hope Lance understands. He makes sure to follow what he remembers of Lance’s routine and watches green goop slide down the drain. Then he’s stepping out and drying himself off. He sits on the bench as he waits for his clothes to come back from the laundry chute. 

At its friendly little chime, he gets up and pulls his now cleaned clothes on. He gets Lance’s set out too, folding them nicely and setting them on the bench. Keith sighs when he thinks about how they’d been moments before the disaster of dinner went down. Lance had gotten close to him, _smelled him_ , and Keith remembers what Lance’s scent often did to his body. 

It makes his heart pound in his chest and his hands feel sweaty as he thinks about it. He shakes his head to rid himself of the thoughts, but they cling to his shoulders. Of Lance coming out just to drag him into the showers with him, maybe pin him to the wall with the water still on. Then he’d kiss him and peel his wet clothes off and -- 

“No, no, no. Not here, _why_ here?” He groans.

“Why here what?” Lance asks as he comes out of the showers. 

“Nothing. Here’s your clothes.” He grabs them from the bench and brings them over to Lance. For what reason he’s not sure. Maybe his brain is still hoping for a sloppy make out in a shower. Lance takes them and leans in closer to Keith.

“Do I _always_ smell this good?” He asks. 

“Yeah,” Keith admits far too quickly for his liking. 

“But like, it’s not just _good_ , like it’s more than that. It’s like…” Lance waves his hand around to convey what he means, and Keith is _acutely_ aware of what he means.

“Yeah, it -- it happens sometimes.” He swallows as he backs up. Lance follows him step for step until Keith’s back is against the lockers. 

For a brilliantly white-hot moment, Keith thinks Lance is going to lean up and kiss him. He wants him to, wants him to want this, but Lance is quick to pull himself away. 

“I should go.” He says and then scurries out with his clothes still in his hands and towel on his waist. It should burn Keith but honestly, he’s glad one of them has a form of self-control. He glances down his body and stares at his very obvious tent in his pants. 

With a groan, he makes his way to his room so he can have some privacy. He’s quick to kick off his pants and boxers before throwing himself on his bed. There’s nothing complicated and he’s fairly sure muscle memory will kick in once he gets started. He wraps his hand around his dick, giving it a few shallow pulls just to see. Then he’s tracing the sides and prominent vein running along it. 

“Fuck.” He says and then moans at the sound of how wrecked _Lance’s voice sounds_. And that moan gets filed away as well. He grips it a bit tighter in his hand now, rolling his hips in time with his jerks. 

“God, Lance.” He bites his lip and then after a second of consideration. “Keith.” He mumbles and then shivers instantly. His name has no damn business sounding that nice. He looks down at what Lance’s fully hard dick looks like. 

What he would do to have this in his mouth. Such a shame he’s in Lance’s body without actually being _in_ Lance’s body. He wraps his hand around it again and his eyes fall shut. It’s surprisingly easy to fall into the fantasy he pulls up in his mind. He plays both parts but it doesn’t matter. As long as he can keep making Lance’s voice come out as _good_ as he does. 

He feels himself on his edge far too quickly and it has him wonder if Lance’s body is pent up and has been _needing_ this release as much as Keith has. He covers his mouth with one hand to help muffle his sounds as he gets increasingly _louder_. Keith needs to know if Lance _always_ gets this loud and that thought pushes him closer and closer. 

And then there’s a knock on his door and he has to do everything in his power to not scream in frustration. He takes a deep breath, pulls his hand off his face, and strokes his dick lazily. 

“Who is it?” 

“Hunk!” The man says cheerfully from the other side of the door. “Pidge and I are ready for movie night tonight.”

“Yeah and we’re gonna watch the movie you picked last time,” Pidge calls out. Keith curses softly and looks down at his dick still in his hand.

“Give me a minute and I’ll be out.” His head flops back against the mattress.

“Cool!” Pidge says.

“We won’t start it without you.” Hunk promises and they both walk away. Keith pushes himself up and pulls on the baggiest pajamas he can find. 

He walks out not long after, hardon mostly dead, and sits with Hunk and Pidge in the common area where they have pillows and blankets thrown out and snacks piled in the center. They play the movie as he comes to sit with them. He has no idea what this movie is even about but he finds it interesting enough. Hunk and Pidge make comments back and forth about the events happening on-screen. 

It’s the glances they keep sending his way during the movie that gets him on edge though. Eventually, he sighs heavily and looks over at them both.

“What?” He asks.

“You feeling okay man?” Hunk asks him first.

“I’m fine.”

“You sure?” 

“Pretty sure.” 

“It’s just _weird_ because you’re hardly quiet during a movie,” Pidge tells him. 

“Well, I guess I’m trying to enjoy it differently today.” He shrugs. It’s these little details about Lance that he wished he knew more about.

“What’s gotten your panties in a twist?” 

“Nothing.”

“Have you talked to --”

“I haven’t talked to Keith yet.” He cuts Hunk off, though he feels marginally bad about it. “And maybe I just never will.” He crosses his arms.

“What are you _talking_ about?” Pidge blinks at him.

“Yeah man, you were so sure about this a few weeks ago.” Hunk frowns.

“Well, people change!”

“Oh my god, you got into a big fight with him, didn’t you? That’s why you threw the goo at him!” Hunk leans closer to him. 

“What?”

“Ugh, Keith’s such a tightwad sometimes.” Pidge groans.

“What?” He feels a bit like a broken record here.

“Oh yeah, what a jerk sometimes. No offense Lance.” Hunk shrugs.

“I…”

“Honestly, if you weren’t so dead set on him, I’d tell you to try to move on and find someone else. Because god sometimes…” Pidge trails off.

“Sometimes he’s got a short temper, he barks at people, fuck I’ve even heard him _growl_ at someone once.” Keith spits out.

“Yeah. Like, don’t get me wrong. He’s a good teammate and a good friend.” Pidge frowns.

“But it’s like… I don’t think Keith’s ready for, y’know, love just yet.” Hunk rubs the back of his neck. _Love?_ Keith stares at them both, not sure if he heard them right.

“I think he’s ready for it. Maybe -- maybe has been waiting for the right person or something cheesy like that.” Keith mumbles. Hunk and Pidge both look at each other before shaking their heads with a soft smile.

“That’s what you keep saying.” Pidge chuckles.

“It’s why we’re telling you just _talk_ to him about your crush on him.” Hunk pats his shoulder. _Crush? Lance has a crush?_

“I…” He isn’t sure what to say in response to all this. It sucks the breath out of his lungs at just the _thought_ that Lance has a crush on him. That maybe his feelings aren’t as one-sided as he originally thought. Hunk and Pidge are thankfully quiet for a moment to let him process this. 

“I guess I really should talk to him huh?” He mumbles. 

“And what a good time to decide that,” Pidge says and Keith gives them a confused look. They point to something over his shoulder and when he turns around he sees his body lingering by the entrance of the common area.

“Uh… Hey. Can I talk to Lance?” Lance asks a bit nervously.

“You sure can!” Hunk pushes at Keith’s back encouragingly. 

“I uh!” He gets up and looks back at the tech duo. They wave him on and he hesitantly makes his way over to Lance. 

“What’s up?”

“Probably better to do this somewhere more, _private_.” Lance glances over at his friends and then back to Keith.

“Oh, uh, sure. Lead the way.” Keith says. Lance nods and then takes his hand and pulls him through the hallways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to yell at me in the comments or over at demon-sushi on Tumblr


	5. Hit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance's POV
> 
> As we continue our descent into that M rating lol

Lance is very much freaking the fuck out, though he hopes he conveys a calm demeanor. Keith gets all but thrown at him by Hunk and Pidge which he feels he should be more concerned about. Instead, he takes him by the hand and pulls him into the hallways. He starts walking to their rooms because this _really_ isn’t a conversation that needs to be overheard.

“Where are we going?” Keith asks.

“Your room,” Lance responds quickly.

“Wait, like, ‘Lance’ or ‘Keith’?”

“Keith.” He groans and then shoulders his way into Keith’s room. 

“Okay, what’s going on?” 

“Alright,” Lance pulls him to the center of the room and takes a deep breath. “Don’t get mad at me.” He starts with.

“Why.” Keith is on the defensive, almost glaring.

“I think… I broke your dick.” He winces. Keith stares at him blankly, confused.

“You what?”

“Broke your dick.”

“How? What fucking kinky ass shit were you doing?” 

“Nothing actually! That’s why I’m a bit freaked out.” Lance sits on the bed and sighs. 

“...You’re going to have to walk me through this then.” Keith crosses his arms as he stands in front of Lance. 

“I was… y’know,” He gestures with his hand. “And like, I know you said it being kinda purple is _normal_ , so it’s fine. It’s going okay.”

“And then?” Keith raises an eyebrow.

“Well…” This all feels too awkward and he glances away.

“Yes?”

“Like, the base kinda got all… swollen?” 

“...Oh.”

“Oh?” Lance snaps his gaze back to Keith.

“Yeah that’s um -- that’s a thing that happens.” Keith shrugs. 

“It _happens_?” Lance repeats, voice flat.

“Yes.” He nods. Lance presses his hands to his face and groans, falling back against the bed.

“You know what _happens_? Finding change in your pocket you forgot you had. Or discovering a shop that carries your favorite drinks. Hell, someone, you look up to suddenly turns around and likes your work.” His arms fall to the bed. “Not, _my dick gets all swollen at the base_.” 

“I didn’t even think to warn you about it really,” Keith admits, sitting on the bed next to Lance. 

“Why not? It’s a little important don’t you think?” 

“I’m just so used to it.” He shrugs. Lance sighs and stares at his ceiling for a moment. 

Keith still smells as _amazing_ as he did in the locker rooms. Which he wholeheartedly blames this all on. Lance just couldn’t stop thinking about him all the way from the locker room to his room. And from there, it became a mess. Especially when he could hear Keith had returned to his room and caught the sounds of _maybe_ a moan. Then he was lost in the sensations until his dick did something weird and he immediately flipped out. 

Now that he knows it’s another _normal_ Keith thing he feels rather embarrassed. An embarrassment that only increases the longer Keith stays in the room with him. He looks over at him and Keith at least looks as embarrassed as he feels.

“So um,” He clears his throat. “Did you need help with that?” He gestures to Lance’s pants that’s gaining a new tent rather quickly. 

“I… um…” Lance’s mind blanks.

“‘Cause like, it _is_ my body so I know what it likes and doesn’t like.” He rubs the back of his neck. 

“You’re offering to jerk me off?” 

“If you wanted.” Keith chews on his lip and Lance feels incredibly dizzy. 

“I need a sec.” He chokes out and Keith nods in response, falling silent beside him. 

On one hand, he’s being offered help by the guy who knows this body best. On the other, it’s the guy he has feelings for which complicates things a bit for him. Does he let Keith please this body with the bonus side effect of Lance getting off? Or does he tell Keith no and go back to trying to get himself off and pray nothing else weird happens with this body? He takes a deep breath and then another before he looks back at Keith.

“How do we do this?”

“Is that a yes then?” Keith asks and Lance nods. “Okay, um… Let’s do this.” He scoots back against the bed until his shoulders are touching the wall. Then he’s spreading his legs and patting the space between them for Lance. 

“Get undressed and sit with your back to me here.” He instructs. Lance nods, sliding off the bed and playing with the hem of his shirt. He feels nervous about stripping down, even with himself remembering that this _is_ Keith’s body and the guy most _certainly_ knows what it looks like already.

He pulls his shirt off and sets it aside, next is his pants, then he hesitates again at the boxers. Lance looks over at Keith who watches him with a curious expression. 

“What?” He asks.

“Is it just me getting naked?” Lance asks.

“Do you want me to --?”

“No!” Lance cuts him off. 

“Then I won’t.” Keith shrugs and pats the space again. Lance sighs and kicks off the last piece of clothing before settling down between Keith’s legs. Keith pulls him closer by his hips which _certainly_ does something to him already, then they’re flushed back to chest. 

“Okay, now what?” Lance asks, head tilting out of Keith’s way as he hooks his chin over his shoulder.

“You let me take care of you.” Keith nips the shell of his ear.

Lance watches _his_ hands slide down along the sides of Keith’s body. One set digs their nails in and claws its way back up to his chest. Keith then turns his head and covers his neck in gentle kisses, each one ramping up the tension in his body as it cries out for something he doesn’t quite know. The hand clawing at his chest moves to his thigh, nails just as sharp there. 

“Fuck.” He shudders as Keith drags his teeth along the side of his neck. “You’re a fucking masochist and I should have known. Is that another Galra thing?” 

“Nah, just a _Keith_ thing,” Keith mumbles into his neck. When he glances back down along his body he gets to watch _his_ hand wrap around Keith’s cock. It certainly does quite a lot to him. From the contrast of their skin tones to the knowing strokes, it’s overwhelming but in a _good_ way. 

“Oh my god.” His head falls back against Keith’s shoulder, his hips rolling into his hand. Keith rolls his thumb over the tip, swiping off the beading precum. Lance can’t bring his eyes to look away from the scene in front of him. 

Then Keith starts leaving small love bites along his neck and shoulder. It makes something in him _snap_ instantly. His hands which had been uselessly limp at his sides now scramble to grab onto anything. One clings to the sheets and the other reaches back and locks around Keith’s shoulder. He chuckles into Lance’s ear, his fist slowly tightening.

“Fuck, Keith, that’s not fair.” He whines and buries his face into his neck. When he works up the courage to look back he jolts. Already the base is getting thick all over again and it still takes him by surprise.

“S-see! It’s doing that thing again.” Lance points out and Keith hums.

“Yeah, that’s normal.” He nips his ear again. Lance doesn’t have a follow-up comment to it, especially not when Keith’s hand grips the base and gives it a firm pull. It has him clawing at the sheets with a loud gasp. 

He’s aware his vision _shifts_ again, his blood rushing through his veins and his body aches with a _need_. There’s a rumble building up in his chest as he tilts his head back and nips at the skin he can find. Keith hums, continuing to pump him and giving his base plenty of attention. 

“Fuck, Keith!” He bucks his hips a bit harder. “I want to be _in_ you.”

“I bet, but I also don’t know if your body could handle it right now.” Keith nips his jaw.

“Your throat could.” 

“How’s your gag reflex?” 

“What gag reflex?”

“Hot.” Keith chuckles. “Let’s get you off at least once before we go that far,” Lance whines as he continues to fuck Keith’s fist. Then Keith does something that makes his vision go _white_. He bites, _hard_ , into the junction between his neck and shoulder. 

“I’m gonna -- fuck, Keith -- Yes!” He moans. Keith responds by sucking at the skin still pinched between his teeth. Lance jolts and bucks into his hand once more before finishing with a loud cry. It lasts a few moments longer than he’s used to, like he’s being tipped over the edge again and again. 

Keith moans behind him and god Lance can practically _smell_ how turned on Keith is right now. He collapses weakly against Keith as he tries to catch his breath. He glances down and sees Keith still has his hand wrapped around him, just below the swollen portion. He releases Lance’s skin and presses a kiss to the tender spot. 

“I think it’s like a knot?” Keith mumbles as he looks at it.

“A what?” Lance’s head is still far too light to understand words right at the moment.

“A knot.”

“Not what?”

“No like knot, with a ‘k’.”

“God, the Galra are so fucking weird.” Lance whines.

“Yeah, they are.” Keith slowly lets go of his dick. Lance tilts his head back and rubs his cheek against Keith’s jaw. 

“Is it weird that I want to cuddle you so hard right now?” 

“No.” Keith shifts them both, laying them on their sides. Lance twists in his arms, facing Keith. He runs his hand along his side in soothing motions. The moment Lance catches his breath he starts to run his hands along Keith’s chest.

“You don’t have to,” Keith tells him as he takes his hands, pulling them away.

“I know I don’t.” Lance looks over at him. “But I want to.” Heck, he can _feel_ the hard on his body is sporting against his thigh. Keith laces their fingers together instead and rests them between their bodies. 

“I don’t want to.” Keith murmurs.

“Oh. Uh. Okay.” He’s a bit confused but he respects the line Keith has set. Though now it makes him feel awkward if he’s being honest. Keith closes his eyes and hums and it only makes Lance feel _worse_.

“Should I… get dressed?” He asks. 

“It’s fine either way.” Keith shrugs. Lance untangles himself from Keith and finds his clothes, pulling them on quickly. When he goes to lay back down beside Keith, he moves sitting up.

“You’ll sleep better with your back against the wall.” He tells Lance.

“Oh. Okay.” Lance crawls into the bed, pressing his back flush against the wall. Keith stares at him and Lance can’t read his own fucking face. It should be open and easy to read but seeing his face blank is a strange obstacle. 

Keith lays beside him, something that soothes his heart and nerves. He reaches out and runs his fingers through his hair, tucking the long strands behind his ear. Lance can feel an odd rumble from deep within his chest but he’s not sure what it is. All he knows is his eyelids feel heavy. 

He isn’t sure when he falls asleep, but he is aware when Keith gets up and the lights turn off. Lance wakes up quickly, sits upright, and catches the sight of Keith slipping through his bedroom door. It tears him apart at the seams, chest burning, and invisible hands tightening around his ribcage. He manages to press his hand to his mouth to muffle the sobs that hit him. 

Lance doesn’t understand this physical reaction. He knows it hurts but he doesn’t understand _why_ it hurts as bad as it does. He guesses he just isn’t good enough regardless of the body he’s in, but this is clearly much more than that. He brings his legs in and wraps his arms around them. He tucks his head into his knees, sniffling.

He stays like that until his body aches from the position. He refuses to move even though he feels exhausted. The lights flick on and he tenses. 

“Rise and sh-- Keith?” Shiro steps into the room. “Keith, hey.” He can hear every footstep and then the bed dips from Shiro settling down on it. A gentle hand rests on his shoulder and he shakes. 

“What happened?” Shiro asks him. Lance pulls his head up and stares at him. Shiro looks worried, checking for any injuries. 

He knows it’s out of Keith’s character but _god_ he needs to be held. He launches himself forward, wrapping his arms around Shiro. He stiffens for a moment, before pulling Lance closer to him. 

“Talk to me, what happened?”

“I think I messed up. Why do I _always_ mess everything up?” 

“You don’t mess _everything_ up,” Shiro tells him. 

“Keith hates me. After everything he just got up and--” He makes a vague noise. Shiro gently pushes his shoulders forcing him to sit up. He rubs his face and then looks at Shiro, who is studying him intently. 

“W-What?” 

“You wanna run that by me again?” Shiro asks him. 

“I…” _Fuck_ , he knows where he messed up so how does he recover from it? “I was speaking in third person?” He offers.

“Are you asking me or telling me?” 

“...Telling.” He says. Shiro looks him over again, brows furrowed and the corner of his lips tugging down. Lance panics, he has to think of something else to back this up with that Shiro will believe. 

“I just… I _grossed_ myself out and I don’t want to think it’s me?” He plays with the sheets under him, looking away. “Like I know it was me and I’ll have to come to terms with it but at the same time, I don’t want to admit it was my doing? Does that make sense?” He looks back at Shiro who looks a little distant. 

“I understand. It’s easier to give it a different name to handle what happened but I’m not sure if that’s good in the long term.” He looks down at his mechanical arm before taking a breath and shaking his head. Lance winces and guilt swims in his stomach, making him feel ill. 

“I’ll um -- I’ll be okay. Just need a few minutes before I can go out I guess?” He rubs his neck. Shiro nods solemnly and pats his shoulder. 

“If you want to talk, you know where to find me.”

“Right.” Lance nods. Shiro gets up and pauses by the door, giving Lance one last long look before stepping out. When the doors close Lance sighs. 

“Fuck.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has been taking me so long, but we should have the last of this done this weekend! Thank you all so much for your patience <3
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments or over at demon-sushi on Tumblr


	6. Miss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith's POV

Keith doesn’t see Lance for breakfast which he can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Last night he had pulled Lance’s hand off his body to keep him from touching him. Regardless of Lance admitting he _wanted_ to touch, all he could feel was an awful sense of guilt. Lance _likes_ him and to let him touch Keith would be too much.

Hell, _he_ shouldn’t have touched Lance in the first place. It felt too much like taking advantage of the situation. It still does. It’s why he left as soon as he was certain that Lance was asleep. He wanted to minimize the damage done by getting him off. 

How much of it is taking advantage though? He likes Lance, quite a lot if he’s being honest. And from what Hunk and Pidge have said, Lance likes him back. So where is the real problem other than his fear of fucking everything up if they got together? He runs his hand through his hair as he stares at some hunk of metal in Hunk and Pidge’s lab. 

The duo isn’t here at the moment, which is fine by him. It lets him grab a few of their tools and work on disassembling the metal mechanism. Lance’s body isn’t used to the intense training he puts _his_ body through and it doesn’t have the _need_ for it. And since idle hands are the devil’s plaything, he’s pulling the mechanism apart to keep his hands busy. 

It’s soothing in its own way, and once it’s fully disassembled he moves to another part of the lab where he can see an engine of some sort. His fingers twitch as he stares at it. He moves, taking it apart as well and cleaning every piece he can. He’s halfway through putting it back together when someone enters the lab. 

“Lance?” Shiro walks over to him. Keith ignores him, focusing entirely on wiping the pipe in his lap. Shiro stands behind him for a few moments before sighing and sitting next to him. 

“Lance, I need to talk to you.” Shiro sets his hand down over the pipe and it makes Keith jerk and turn to him. 

“Huh?” He blinks and remembers _he’s_ Lance. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“I could tell.” Shiro gives him a halfhearted smile and moves his hand away. “I need to talk to you.”

“What?” Keith asks, putting the pipe in its place, grabbing what essentially is a wrench to tighten its locking mechanism. Shiro watches him silently for a minute, cleaning another part and putting it back on the engine. 

“Did something happen last night?”

“No,” Keith says, not looking over at him. 

“I know you were the last to talk to him.” Shiro crosses his arms.

“Him?”

“Keith.”

“What?” He groans and looks over to Shiro. “What do you want?” The man blinks, eyebrows furrowed for a minute. Keith knows this is a _bad_ look. He’s examining him because something didn’t align, it’s a suspicion. He’s not sure how to fix it. 

“Well? What about Keith?” 

“...You were the last person to talk to him, Lance.” Shiro says slowly, gauging for a reaction. _Shit. Shit. Shit._

“Okay? So we talked.” He shrugs. “Am I not allowed to talk to my teammates?” _Ugh, no. Reel in your attitude, this isn’t a Lance behavior._

“I didn’t say that.” 

“Well, you sure _implied_ it.” _What? Stop!_ Even Shiro raises an eyebrow at Keith’s actions and he falls silent. 

“I take it you two talked about something… sensitive.” Shiro says eventually. 

“Sure.” Keith sighs trying to calm down, turning back to the engine. 

“And that talk went bad?” Shiro asks.

“What do you want from me?” Keith groans. 

“I want to know what happened between you two.” He crosses his arms.

“ _Nothing_ happened between us.”

“I don’t believe you.” 

“Can’t we just talk and have nothing happen?” 

“Not when it’s you two. Not when it leaves Keith _clearly_ upset.” Shiro’s voice is starting to take a hard edge to it. He’s getting quite tired of him dodging the question. 

“...He’s upset?” He stares at his greasy hands. That makes no sense. Why would _Lance_ be upset?

“Yes, very actually. And normally, I wouldn’t be interfering with his relationships but --”

“ _Relationship_? There _is_ no relationship. We’re _not_ together!” He snaps as he turns to him and Shiro sits stunned. “I can’t even _imagine_ us being together! Not with all the mind power in the world can I see it happening with everything that’s happened!”

“So something _did_ happen.”

“What the hell do you want from me, Shiro? Can’t you just _stay_ out of my life!?” 

“Lan--”

“You’re _always_ meddling!” He gets up, bearing his teeth at Shiro. 

“Meddling!?” Shiro rises to his feet as well.

“You heard me! _Meddling!_ ”

“I don’t know where this is coming from, but you need to calm down.” Shiro takes a step towards him. 

“Calm down!? You want _me_ to calm down!? I was perfectly fine until you came here to poke your nose where it doesn’t belong!” Keith jabs a finger against Shiro’s chest. 

“Lance --”

“No, no you _shut up_ and listen to me! For _once_ can’t you stay out of my business and let _me handle it!?_ ” Keith shouts and he hates the shocked look on Shiro’s face, hates the tinge of hurt that follows it, hates that it doesn’t make him feel better. He hates himself.

“Lan--”

“Fuck off, Kashi!” He tosses the tools to the ground and runs out of the room. 

He runs until he’s out of breath and terribly lost in the castle’s halls. He leans against the wall and slides down. Apparently, Lance cries when he’s angry, Keith learns as he rubs his arm aggressively over his eyes to be rid of the tears. He sits there until he hears a soft squeaking next to him and he finds himself staring at the mice.

“What do you want?” He asks with a tired voice. They just stare at him, only scattering when he hears the click of boots walking his way. 

“There you are, Lance.” Allura stands in front of him. “The team has been looking for you.” She offers her hand to him. 

“Why?” He glares at her hand.

“A situation has occurred and we’ll need your skills as our _sharpshooter_.” She gives him a small smile. He thinks it’s supposed to be encouraging. 

“Can’t do it.” He gets himself up without her help. She tilts her head curiously.

“What do you mean?”

“It means _I can’t do it_.” Keith huffs. “My bayard doesn’t work right now.” He tucks his hands into his pockets and avoids looking at her.

“I see. It’s worse than I thought.” She murmurs.

“What are you talking about?”

“It appears Keith is having these issues as well.” She frowns. “Are you able to communicate with the Blue Lion right now?”

“No.” He rolls his eyes. Her frown deepens. 

“Please, accompany me to the bridge immediately.”

“Is that an order?” Keith asks dryly.

“Yes.” She narrows her eyes at him. He sighs and gestures for her to lead the way. 

Turns out he wasn’t far from the bridge in the first place but he was certainly a far distance from the lab Hunk and Pidge have. He walks in and feels everyone’s eyes on him. He tries to put on the cocky smirk Lance wears but it doesn’t feel right on his face. 

“It appears Keith isn’t the only one having issues with their bayard,” Allura announces as she takes to the helm and then turns to the team. “Lance is also having some problems connecting with the Blue Lion.” He can feel Shiro’s eyes burning a hole into him, so he looks over to Lance. Lance has his arms crossed over his chest and leaning against his seat, clearly unhappy. 

“Jesus,” Pidge whispers next to him. 

“So am I going as backup then?” Hunk asks.

“Lance and Keith may not have access to their bayards or their Lions, but that doesn’t mean their skills are gone.” Shiro pipes up. 

“Coran is checking to see if we have any weapons in the armory that are still functional.” Allura presses her lips in a thin line. “If they are we can provide one to both Lance and Keith. They will still accompany Pidge.” Keith walks over to Lance.

“What are we doing?” He whispers to him. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know, _mullet_.” He hisses back with a glare. Keith recoils from it and looks away. It stings more than usual though he’s not sure why. 

“We’re going undercover onto a moonbase,” Pidge tells him, giving Lance a confused look and then turning back to Keith. “It has important information about Haggar’s… experiments.” They glance at Shiro. 

“You’re not going?” Keith asks him. 

“We only need Keith’s hand to access the security systems. Shiro’s might get the base shut down before we can get the information we need.” Pidge shrugs. 

“It’s probably for the best as well.” Shiro smiles thinly as an awkward pause settles over the team. Coran thankfully shows up not long after, a small blaster and a polearm in hand. 

“This is the best we got in there,” Coran says, passing Lance the polearm and Keith the small blaster.

“Thanks,” Keith says as he looks at his blaster carefully. He’s thankful that the Garrison gave him basic firearm training. 

“Go suit up and meet Pidge in the Green Lion’s bay,” Shiro instructs them. Keith instinctually heads for his space but pauses halfway through and corrects his path. _God, he’s such a mess right now_. He promises himself that he’ll get his act together when they get back from the mission. 

He dons the Blue Paladin armor and stares up at the Blue Lion across from him. She sits silently, not a single feeling in the back of his mind. When he reaches out he feels a confused Red Lion, warmth draping around his shoulders. 

“I’ll keep this body safe. Promise.” He looks up at Blue. He gets no response but jogs down the long hallway to the Green Lion.

Green’s barrier is down, Pidge has their hand pressed against the lion’s muzzle. They look over at Keith as he walks up. They think silently and open their mouth to speak but hesitate on the words. 

“What’s up?” He asks them.

“Did you and Keith fight?” They settle for. “Like, _really bad_ , last night?” 

“...We didn’t fight.” Keith sighs. 

“Then what’s going on between you two? Because whatever happened is _clearly_ messing with your bonds to the Lions.” 

“Nothing is going on.” He crosses his arms. 

“Oh. _Oh_. Jeez… I’m sorry man.” Pidge winces. “I thought it would all work out for you two.”

“It’s not --” He cuts himself off when he sees Lance coming up. 

“We ready?” He seems to be a bit lighter now than when he was on the bridge, but Keith isn’t sure.

“You two have your weapons?” Pidge looks at them both. Keith gestures to the blaster he’d secured to his hip. Lance waves the polearm still in his hand. Pidge nods and then leads the team into their Lion. 

“Remember, this is a stealth mission.” They say making their way to the cockpit. 

“Yeah.” Keith nods. 

“Which means we should probably follow Keith’s lead on this.” They sit in the pilot’s chair and look over their shoulder at the two.

“I…” Keith glances over to Lance who salutes Pidge in understanding. 

“You got it, boss.” He says, leaning against the Lion.

“Yeah.” Keith grimaces. 

“Good. As long as you two watch my back, I’ll be able to quickly hack into the computers and get what we need.” The Green Lion rises up and takes off, leaving the hangar. They make their way to the moonbase and activate their cloaking. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof that fight between Shiro and Keith tho that got me and my wife
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments below or over at demon-sushi on Tumblr


	7. Sharp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance's POV

Lance’s heart still aches, still feels a bit bruised and sore, but a mission that needs him takes precedence. Especially since he needs to make it up to Allura, she reamed him about not informing her of his issues with his Lion and bayard. Which he wouldn’t have had to deal with if they had just been honest from the start with what happened to him and Keith.

He glances over at Keith and can tell there’s something on his mind and perhaps he wants to even talk. But whenever he goes to open his mouth he glances at Pidge and then winces. Lance rolls his eyes. If Keith wants to be a baby about this then so be it. He’s in mission mode right now, which feels so much easier with how Keith’s body registers the danger coming up. 

He grips the polearm between his fingers and stares at its curved bladed tip. It’s a bit taller than he is, so at least he’ll have some distance between him and the enemy if it comes down to a fight. He prays there isn’t one. _Get in, get the data, get out, easy._

Pidge lands Green near the main building, keeping the cloaking on. They get up from the pilot’s chair and look at them. With a nod from the three, they make they’re way out of the lion and down to the moon’s surface. 

“Alright Lance, what do we got?” Pidge whispers softly through the com lines.

“I thought we were deferring to Keith.” Keith looks over at them.

“Well, yeah, for the _stealth_ parts. We have to get _in_ first.” Pidge rolls their eyes. Lance should feel honored that Pidge believes in his ability to lead the way into a dangerous situation. 

He scans the buildings as he looks for a way in, Keith and Pidge arguing the whole time. He’s thankful the pair keep it quiet. Keith’s body helps him see a bit clearer in the dim lighting and he picks out a few sentries guarding at least two of the entrances. One entryway still appears clear, though he can’t see if there are any _other_ security measures.

“Look, let’s stop fighting already, okay? There’s an opening over there and from sitting here for what, four or five minutes, no one’s done a rotation. Also, I think the guards outside are sentries, not soldiers, which is fine by me.” Lance looks back at the two. “We need to move and we need to move _now_.” He gestures with the polearm.

“...Right.” Pidge nods. He steps over to Keith and points out the entryway. 

“That’s where we’re going. Sentries are there, there, and there.” He points them out. “Now how do we enter?” Keith stares at the places he’d shown and then hums after a minute.

“This way.” He moves quickly, keeping himself low to the ground. It’s the best they have with the area being flat. There’s no rocky cliffs or plant life to hide behind. Their best bet is to hope they’re overlooked and Lance hates it.

They get there without issue, pressing flush against the walls as Keith moves to press his hand to the scanner. He hesitates at the last minute and then reaches out, taking Lance by his wrist and pressing his palm against the scanner. It beeps and they slip inside. 

“Seriously, what’s going on with you two?” Pidge mumbles, bayard drawn as they peek around corners.

“Nothing.” Lance hisses. “Stay focused.” He’s on high alert now that they’re inside. Keith’s body a mess of hair triggers and nerves. Keith continues to lead the charge until Pidge can find a port they can access. The two stand in front of them, waiting with bated breath. 

“Okay, got the schematics. This facility isn’t that large, but _this_ station has limited access. I need to get down to the security levels.” Pidge shows them the map and the two study it for a second.

“No problem.” Keith nods. He’s leading once again and they make it to the new location without alerting anyone. A few close calls, but nothing that wasn’t unmanageable. Pidge is quick to throw themselves at one of the computers, fingers clacking away at the keys.

“Keith, private channel?” Keith asks, stepping over to him. Lance rolls his eyes but taps his helmet, making sure to switch to a different channel for him. 

“What?”

“We need to talk.” Keith frowns.

“I don’t think so. You made things _pretty_ clear.” He rolls his eyes.

“Lance, I’m serious.”

“So am I!” He growls

“Are you mad at me?” Keith stares at him with confusion.

“Mad?” He scoffs and laughs. “Why would I be _mad_ at you?”

“That’s what I’m asking.”

“I dunno, maybe because _you_ broke the Dindlemm and we swapped bodies? Maybe because _you_ didn’t want to confess to the Alteans and Shiro that we fucked up? Or y’know, you just pumped it and dumped it.” Lance shrugs. “Take your pick.”

“Pumped it and -- is that what you think I did? I got you off and flipped out?”

“I mean, I’ve seen you take off for smaller reasons. You’re a runaway Keith, and that’s all you are.” 

“No, it’s not.” He recoils 

“I’m Keith, I shove people away from me so that I can run away and never admit that I cared about them!”

“That’s not --”

“I’m angry at the world, hate everyone, heck my team can go _fuck_ themselves in all honesty!”

“Okay, now you’re just --”

“But you know what? Fuck Lance McClain _specifically_. He’s dumber than a box of rocks and would believe just about anything I say, so it’ll make it _extra_ fun to play my mind games on him!”

“What!? No! Lan--”

“I fucking hate his guts anyway!” It hurts him to hear Keith’s voice say the words, but it hurts him _more_ to see the way his face crumples as Keith stares at him with pain in his eyes.

“Lance… You are the _best_ damn thing to have ever happened to me. How could I ever _hate_ you?” 

“You don’t mean that.” He wraps his free arm around his body as he looks away. Keith reaches over and cups his helmet, pulling it to face him. 

“Of course I mean it. I’ve never once _lied_ to you.” And Lance can see the open and genuine honesty written on his face. “I don’t hate you. Never have.”

“Then why did you leave?” 

“I didn’t want to -- to take advantage of…”

“Of what?”

“Lance…”

“Tell me.”

“I…”

“Well?”

“I’m in love with you!” Keith shouts and it’s clear as day over the com lines. He hears Pidge pause in their typing.

“You’re…” Hold the phone. _In love?_ Lance feels dizzy and his knees weak. “You’re in love? With me?” He stares at Keith. Keith opens his mouth to respond but when he glances over Lance’s shoulder his eyes widen. 

Time feels _slower_ almost. He turns around as a Galran soldier walks into the room they’re occupying, gun raised. Lance gets Keith behind him as the soldier shoots, a loud bang cracking through the air and a sharp pain hits him. He staggers and hits the ground, leg in agony. 

Behind him, he hears Keith fire a few rounds at the soldier but he does a terrible job. Pidge yelps and ducks behind the desk, still typing. Lance winces as he drags himself back, his hands scrambling for his weapon. The second he wraps his fingers around it, everything speeds back up.

The soldier shoots at him twice more, one shot grazing his side the other narrowly missing his head. He can hear Pidge grunt as they find the channel he and Keith are on. 

“We need to get out of here.”

“Yeah, no kidding!” Lance grunts as he watches Keith fail to hit his target. “Oh fuck this.” Lance spits out getting his bayard. The weight of it in his hands is reassuring, he rests it against his shoulder and takes his shot at the guy. 

Two shots, both at the unarmored gut, and the soldier goes down. It’s all Keith needs to rush forward and knock the soldier’s weapon away, delivering a sharp kick to their head. Lance feels woozy and he looks down at his leg.

“...Your bayard.” He can hear Pidge mumble. “It worked.” He ignores them in favor of trying to get up. It causes a pain he’s never quite known before and he collapses back down, with a scream. 

“We -- we need to get out of here,” Pidge tells Keith as he jogs back over. 

“Did you get what we needed?” He asks, staring at Lance. 

“Yeah, and I kinda set the place to blow?” 

“I can’t get up.” Lance’s bayard deactivates and returns to his armor. Keith stoops down, taking his arm and draping it over his shoulders. He pulls him up and Lance shouts in pain again.

“Can you even walk?” Pidge asks. Lance doesn’t get to respond as Keith moves and pulls Lance entirely over his shoulders. Lance still yelps from the pain but at least he’s off his feet.

Then Keith and Pidge are both rushing out of the building. Lance feels very lightheaded and his leg is burning painfully by the time Keith is depositing him on the floor of the Green Lion’s cockpit. Pidge is quick to get them off the moon and hail the castle. 

“Hey, stay with me.” Keith pulls both their helmets off and pats Lance’s face. 

“My leg.” 

“You’re gonna hate me for this, but we need to put pressure on it okay?” Keith tells him. 

“Yeah.” He nods. Keith immediately is pressing his hands against his thigh and he’s fairly sure he blacks out for a second. 

“No! Lance! Come on!” 

“‘M here.” Lance gasps. He’s vaguely aware Pidge is informing of the medical emergency to Allura. He turns his attention back to Keith, his jaw wobbling.

“Stay with me.” He whispers. 

“I’m here.” Lance shifts so he’s sitting up, back against the wall, despite how it hurts. He can see the steadily growing pool of blood under him but he feels surprisingly calm. Keith sniffles, ducking to wipe his face with his arms as he keeps his hands pressed hard against his wound.

“Keith…”

“Yeah?” He looks up at him. Something seems almost final about this moment.

“I need to tell you something.”

“Tell me when we get to the castle.”

“I need to tell you _now_.” Lance furrows his brows.

“No, no, no. That’s not fair.”

“Keith.”

“No! You don’t get to do the dying love confession thing, Lance!” He shouts.

“Keith, please.” Lance reaches for him with tired arms, hands settling on his shoulders. 

“You can’t…” Keith presses his forehead against his. “You can’t do this to me. You can’t _leave_ me. Fuck, you can hate me all you want, but I can’t _lose_ you.” His breath is shaky, jagged, and Lance can’t say he’s ever seen Keith like this before, let alone his own face. 

“I don’t hate you.” Lance mumbles. “Never have really.” His vision is swimming and he can see dark spots in the edges of his vision. 

“Just stay with me. Okay? A-and you can tell me everything at the castle once you’re out of the cryopod.” 

“I _need_ to tell you now, I don’t want to _not_ say it.” 

“Then be _stubborn_ and hang in there until you can, at the castle after you’ve healed.” Keith’s eyes fall shut. Other than his leg burning, everything else feels cold. He’s going to pass out and he isn’t sure of how much he can hang on when this body isn’t even _his_ to begin with.

“I’m sorry. Banged up your body pretty badly.” He chuckles weakly.

“It’s fine. It’ll all be okay.” Keith tells him. “Don’t apologize for it.”

“You’re not giving me a lot of options when it comes to what I _can_ do.” 

“Yeah well, I just want you to live.” 

“Keith…”

“Don’t.”

“I’m gonna pass out man.”

“No, you’re not.” Keith opens his eyes, bright and burning. It’s a sight he’s never seen on his own face before. Lance moves a hand to cup Keith’s jaw. He pauses, giving Keith a second before he’s closing the gap between them.

Lance presses his lips to Keith, eyes falling shut. If the guy wants to be stubborn and not hear his confession, he’ll just have to go about it this way instead. The hands on Lance’s thigh let up their pressure for a moment, before resuming. Keith kisses him back, meeting Lance’s passion and confession beat for beat. And yeah, he slips his tongue into his mouth and Keith moans this quiet and shaky thing as Lance feels the Green Lion landing. Then when he leans back, he knows Keith is going to kill him. 

“I love you. Quite a lot.” Lance murmurs against his lips.

“No. No, no, no, no.” Keith is panicking.

“I wanted to tell you sooner.”

“Shut up!” 

“I love you, Keith. So much. And I’m sorry.” He blinks slowly.

“Lance! Don’t you _fucking die on me!_ ”

“Sorry.” He mumbles as he falls back against the wall. He’s aware of Keith screaming at him and of Pidge’s scared voice asking a million questions. He’s distantly aware of other voices too as he’s moved quickly out of the Lion.

Allura with a grim voice. Pidge still scared. Hunk nervous. Coran clinical. Shiro pitted and brittle. Keith screaming at the top of his lungs, wrecked. But it all seems so far away now. He finally fades out with another apology on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3c
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments below or over at demon-sushi on Tumblr


	8. Charade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith POV

Shiro has to physically restrain Keith from entering the room with Lance. He screams and hisses, cussing Shiro out in any language he can, hitting, scratching, kicking, and biting. Hunk and Pidge stand in the hallways, frozen and scared. Allura is in the medbay with Coran, assisting any way she can.

“Lance, you need to calm down.” Shiro doesn’t budge or flinch, but his voice is thin and brittle.

“I need to be in there with him!”

“You need to calm down.” 

“I can’t lose him! Shiro, _please_ , I can’t do this!” Lance’s body is so _emotional_ , and he’s sobbing grossly with no end in sight. Keith can’t blame the body though, he’d probably be just as destroyed regularly.

Shiro holds him, gently guiding him to the floor when his legs give out. When Keith goes back to trying to escape, Hunk and Pidge are wrapping their arms around him too. He howls loudly as they try to soothe the jagged edges of him. 

He isn’t sure how long they all sit there, how long it takes before he goes numb and hangs limply and lifelessly in their arms. Hunk blubbers into his back and Pidge keeps wiping at their face. He can hear Shiro sniffling and it kills him. All of it kills him.

Allura and Coran both step out. A tense silence fills the hallway as everyone turns to face them. Shiro is still holding Keith tightly, fearing for the worst.

“Is… Is Keith going to make it?” Hunk asks for everyone. 

“He’s weak and lost a lot of blood due to the wound.” Coran crosses his arms behind his back and offers them all a small smile. “But he’s quite stubborn and he will pull through.” Relief crashes through the team, but Keith still feels too keyed up to appreciate the good news.

“However.” Allura steps forward, eyes trained on Keith specifically. _There it is, the bad news._ Keith tenses back up as his heart pounds in his chest.

“However?” Shiro frowns.

“That’s not Keith in there.”

“Do you need to get your eyes checked?” Hunk asks.

“...She’s right.” Pidge turns to look at Keith. “Because _you’re_ Keith.”

“What?”

“I…” Keith’s mouth feels dry and Shiro pushes him back to look at him. 

“Coran and I found the broken Dindlemm while you three were on the moonbase. Which, we need to discuss the pyrotechnics and their appropriate applications Pidge.” Allura frowns at them before focusing back on Keith. “There’s no need to hide it from us, Keith. We know.” Keith stares at the ground and nods weakly.

“Huh. Our argument earlier now makes more sense.” Shiro hums.

“I thought it was weird with how quiet you were.” Hunk whines. “God and _we_ told you about Lance’s crush on you.”

“Hindsight, twenty-twenty.” Pidge agrees. “Especially since you two blew it because you kept using the wrong names while Lance was bleeding out in my lion.”

“Will… Will Lance be okay, in my body?” Keith looks up at the Alteans.

“That’s the thing…” Allura rubs her arm. “The cryopod can only do what it can, but without _you_ being in your body, it’s going to continue to register it as something needing to be fixed.”

“So are you saying the pod’s gonna, like, delete Lance’s mind because it doesn’t belong in there?” Hunk asks.

“It’s a possibility.” Coran frowns. “How long have the two of you been swapped?” He asks.

“Um… Almost a month now.” Keith answers.

“A month!?” His eyebrows shoot up his head. 

“Well, yeah.” Keith shrugs. “It’s when the Dindlemm went missing in the first place, right?”

“We were hoping it was a recent break.” Allura seems distressed and quickly makes her way over. She presses her hands to Keith’s face.

“We’re not _permanently_ stuck are we?” 

“I’d hope not.” She murmurs, eyes falling shut. He watches her marks glow faintly as the space beneath her lights up as well. He tries to stay calm as she uses her space magic on him.

“How does it look?” Shiro asks when the lights die down.

“It’s not permanent. Maybe, if given enough time, you two could naturally switch back.” Allura sighs with relief. 

“If the pod doesn’t kill Lance first.” Pidge wraps their arms around themself.

“We have to have hope.” Allura looks over at them.

She eventually convinces Pidge to hand over the data they’d gotten off the moonbase. Hunk retreats to the kitchen, most likely to stress bake as he usually does. Coran slips back into the medbay to monitor Lance’s condition. Shiro stays by Keith’s side but it makes him antsy. It always makes him anxious when someone is in one of the pods. It’s different this time since it’s _Lance_ , however. 

Shiro just hovers around him, even when they’re allowed in to see Lance for a few minutes. Keith reaches out for the glass of the pod, pressing his hand against it and staring at his own sleeping face. It’s truly this bizarre moment of him realizing he should be the one in the pod right now. Instead, he’s on the outside of it and looking in. 

He probably would have fallen asleep in the medbay by the pod if it wasn’t vetoed by the team in general. Sure, shifts would be established to make sure Lance wasn’t alone and didn’t tumble out of the pod without anyone nearby, but Keith was not going to be on the first shift. He fights them all for it though. For whatever reason, Allura deems it best to keep the two bodies far apart to help keep it from wiping Lance’s existence out of Keith’s body.

He hates it immensely. Hates how there isn’t anything he can do to help Lance. Hunk and Pidge quickly learn that Keith will take apart anything that’s been given to him and enlists his help in taking apart small things Hunk doesn’t want to. He isn’t as helpful as Hunk is when it comes to other technical applications though, so he’s nowhere close to replacing Hunk thankfully. 

He knows how to put explosives together and how to rebuild an entire hovercraft. But that’s about where his technical know-how ends. He wasn’t in the engineering track at the Garrison, after all, so most of his knowledge comes from practical uses. So he doesn’t usually know what the two are having him take apart most of the time. It’s how Shiro finds him, sitting on the floor in the common area with a half-disassembled machine in his lap and it’s pieces around him. 

“I swear to god, Keith, if that coffee machine is broken I will murder you.” Shiro chuckles, water pouches in one hand, a tray in the other. 

“Is that what this is?” Keith asks. “All Hunk and Pidge said that it was _incredibly_ important I take it apart.” He shrugs. Shiro hums and sits next to him, wary of the parts strewn about.

“Here, take this.” He offers Keith one of the water pouches.

“I’m not --”

“You’ve been crying off and on all day. Trust me when I say it’s important to hydrate.” He wiggles the pouch and Keith sighs. He sets the machine aside and takes the pouch, sipping slowly on the water. 

“What makes you so sure about the water?” He mumbles, though he greatly appreciates it already.

“You think Adam was my only ex?” Shiro jokes as he drinks his own water.

“...He didn’t go to your funeral.” Keith mumbles. His brother falls silent at that and Keith winces. He rests his head on Shiro’s shoulder.

“Huh. That hurts a lot actually.” Shiro frowns. “I know we didn’t end things well, but…” 

“It’s not your fault he was a jerk.”

“He wasn’t always.”

“Sure had a funny way of showing it then.” 

“Keith!”

“I’m just saying, Mitzi was really cool and so was Jax.”

“Jax was afraid of heights and hated flying. I kept telling him that a pilot was all flying.” Shiro shakes his head. “He left the Garrison after we broke up and I always wondered what he went on to do.”

“Mitzi and Jax both showed to honor your body, though Jax left crying before the ceremony was over. Mitzi stayed by my side the entire time.” 

“She say anything for me?” Shiro asks curiously.

“Yeah. It was really sweet. I think she was the first one to make sure I was okay.”

“Sounds about right.” He chuckles and then sighs. He grabs the tray he’d walked in with and passes it to Keith. A small plate of food, made by Hunk if Keith had to guess based on the smell, sits innocently in the center.

“I’m not hungry.” Keith mumbles.

“You need to eat.”

“I’m not --”

“If not for you, then for Lance.” Shiro pleads. Keith sighs and takes the tray, nibbling on the food. Shiro hums, satisfied for now as he looks at the bits that made up the machine he’d taken apart. When he takes a deep breath, Keith knows it’s because he’s going to ask something that Keith won’t want to answer.

“What happened?” He asks.

“On the moonbase? I’ve already debriefed Allura.” 

“No, I mean, what happened to you and Lance for the whole freaky Friday business?” Shiro nudges him and taps his head.

“It was just after you and I had a talk.” Keith starts with.

“Which one?” 

“About… _y’know_.” Keith can feel his face heat up.

“About Lance?” 

“Yes.”

“And your widdle crush.”

“Don’t --”

“Keith and Lance, sitting in a tree.”

“Stop it,” Keith whines and shoves his brother’s shoulders. 

“Was it _that_ talk?”

“Yes! It was! We talked and --”

“And you ran out of the room screaming at me.” Shiro laughs.

“Fuck off.” He crosses his arms. “I went to the training deck.”

“Naturally.” Shiro nods and Keith rolls his eyes.

“Lance was there with the dingledooder on. I thought he was just playing with it so I was trying to get it back from him. We fought a bit and it broke.”

“...Did it hurt?”

“I think I felt spaghettification and lived, in all honesty.” 

“Hmm. Think we have to worry about black holes out here?” 

“I mean, Allura and Coran would probably keep us from flying into one. So would the lions.” Keith shrugs. 

“Probably.” Shiro nods. “So, why didn’t you two say anything?”

“Oh trust me, Lance wanted to. But I… didn’t want him to say anything.”

“Why?”

“...To not get into trouble.” Keith looks away.

“You realize you would get into trouble regardless of when you told us, right?”

“Okay, fine! I _also_ did it so that I wouldn’t have to have a talk with Lance about my _feelings_ like you wanted me to.”

“Like _I_ wanted you to?” Shiro raises a brow.

“...Like I wanted to because of your advice.” He admits. “But it doesn’t matter now. I think I kinda fucked it up?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, first I thought he hated me and I pissed him off. And now I know he loves me and I hurt him…” Keith rubs his arm and sets his food aside.

“You hurt him?”

“We um…” He trails off, not sure how to have _this_ conversation with Shiro.

“You?”

“Had a bonding moment?” He offers.

“A bonding moment.” Shiro stares at him, not believing. 

“Well, you see --” He starts but then grunts. 

“Keith?” Shiro rests a hand on his shoulder. 

Sparks dance in front of his eyes as his head swims, his chest feeling tighter. He can’t tell if this is a strange panic attack or something far worse. He’s vaguely aware of someone rushing into the room and mentioning something going on with Lance. He finds himself struggling to get up so he can come and check on them but his legs are jelly and barely support his weight. 

He doesn’t get two steps down the hall before they give up on him entirely as he feels an all too familiar pull at his navel. His world tilts sideways and he hits the deck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:3c
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments or over at demon-sushi on Tumblr


	9. Wake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance POV

Lance feels like he’s been pulled through a taffy machine. His head aches the way it does after a good crying session and he’s aware he’s wrapped up in someone’s arms. He groans and tries to open his eyes. Nothing is bright or oversaturated as he’s come to know, which has him wondering how badly he messed up Keith’s body.

The second thing he registers is that Shiro is holding him, concern and fear on his face. Lance blinks up at him and smirks.

“I must’ve died to be in the arms of an angel.” He jokes. Shiro’s brows furrow in confusion as he looks Lance over for a few minutes. 

“Lance?” 

“...Yes?” He sits up on his own and he notices his signature jacket around his arms, his own brown skin on his hands, and _his_ voice coming out of his mouth. “Oh my god, am I _actually_ dead?” He looks over to Shiro.

“I… I don’t think so.” Shiro answers and then helps Lance get to his feet.

“I’m back in my body.” 

“So you are Lance then.” 

“That explains what happened to Keith’s body,” Allura says and Lance looks over at her. 

“What happened?”

“Medbay,” Allura says instead of answering the question. Shiro looks tense but waits until Lance is steady before following after her. 

Coran is hovering over the cryopod that Keith’s in and Lance freezes. Keith looks distressed and the pod is making an ungodly beeping sound until he finally settles back down. Lance’s eyes drift down to Keith’s thigh, knowing he can’t see the wound due to the suit but still worrying about it.

“Is everything okay?” Shiro asks.

“Lance?” Coran turns to him, obviously stressed.

“Y-yeah, that’s me.” He smiles and Coran sighs with relief.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it when Keith’s body started to act the way it did.” 

“Did we -- did we switch back?” He asks. Coran hums and taps a few more times on the side of the pod, before he nods.

“It appears you two have.”

“That’s good, right?” Shiro stares at the pod.

“Very. He should be out sooner now.” 

“I’ll inform Hunk and Pidge about the good news. I’m sure they’ll be happy about it.” Allura presses her hands to her chest. 

“Also tell them they’re in trouble for wrecking the coffee maker,” Shiro tells her. 

“Is that what happened to the Comae efferk?” She hisses.

“Comae efferk.” Shiro and Lance repeat flatly. They don’t get a response as the princess storms out of the room and Lance prays for Hunk and Pidge’s safety. 

“Will Keith be okay?” Shiro shakes his head after a minute and turns to Coran.

“Better chances of survival now that he’s in the appropriate body.” He nods. 

“Okay, good.” Shiro sighs and Lance finds himself stepping forward. He presses his hand against the glass of the pod and stares at Keith’s sleeping form. 

It’s bizarre to be on the outside looking in, he’s the one who caused the injury, and yet he’s not in the pod anymore. He wonders if Keith will be sore or if there will be a nasty scar. It’d be his fault. He wants Keith to be okay more than anything else though. 

“Give him about… an hour I believe is the correct timeslice you use.” Coran crosses his arms behind his back.

“Can I wait here?” Lance turns to Shiro. He sighs with an amused look to his face. 

“I’ll bring you some food.”

“Food sounds amazing right now.” Lance agrees. Shiro nods and leaves the room. 

“How are you feeling my boy?” Coran asks.

“Better. I take it everyone knows about the body switch?” Lance rubs the back of his neck. 

“Yes, we do. The good news is that you two were able to switch back.”

“Would we not have been able to?”

“I’ve never known a case quite like this,” Coran admits. “We were worried the cryopod would erase you from Keith’s body and you would cease to exist.”

“Oh well, I’m glad it just forced us to switch back.” Lance chuckles weakly. 

“You’re not the only one.” He smiles. Lance stares at the cryopod again, taking in Keith’s sleeping expression. He seems to be at peace. Lance finds his hand against the glass again.

“We should have said something sooner to you guys.” He mumbles. “Things could have gotten really bad and we weren’t saying anything.”

“I won’t lie, you probably should have. However, that is in the past now. All you can do is learn from the mistake.” 

“I’m sorry about the Dindlemm.” 

“Oh, no need to be. I’ve already fixed it back up.” Coran chuckles and waves his hand.

“You were able to fix it?” Lance looks at him. 

“Of course. It’s fragile but easy to repair.” 

The pod chimes softly and Lance looks back at it. He pulls his hand off the glass as it dissolves. He looks over to Coran, confused for a moment before he’s catching Keith tumbling out of the pod.

“There’s no way this has been an hour,” Lance tells him.

“What?” Keith mumbles softly. 

“Did I say an hour? Must’ve been wrong.” Coran hums innocently. “How are you feeling Keith?”

“You… did it on purpose?” Lance asks.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He smirks at him and then guides Lance to one of the tables for Keith to sit on. 

“Am I in my body?” Keith mumbles, looking at his hands.

“You sure are.” Lance smiles. 

“That’s good.”

“Very good,” Coran agrees. “Now how’s your leg feeling?”

“Feels fine.” Keith wiggles both of them for good measure. 

“Don’t mind me as I do a quick scan of your body to make sure there are no lingering issues we need to worry about,” Coran tells him, getting out one of the handheld scanners. Lance steps aside and lets the man do his scan. It chimes happily and he nods and puts the scanner away.

“Looks like you’re all clear. Your clothes are in the laundry chute for you. I’ll go check on Shiro and your food.” Coran smiles and pats Keith’s shoulder before he leaves, giving Lance a wink.

“He really _did_ do it on purpose.” Lance stares at Coran’s retreating form, flabbergasted. 

“Did what?” Keith asks.

“He said you’d be ready in an hour, but you came out far quicker than that.” Lance turns to him. 

“Dad did say I was a bit quick to evacuate from my mom,” Keith smirks.

“...Okay, that has to be the weirdest way to say you were born.” Lance groans and Keith laughs softly. Lance leans up against the table and looks over at him.

“What?” 

“I’m sorry,” Lance says. 

“Don’t be. I can’t even feel what’s happened.” He pats his thighs, trying to find the spot.

“That’s -- that’s not why I’m apologizing.” Lance crosses his arms. Keith raises a brow and then slides off the table. He walks over to the laundry chute and gets out his clothes that had been put in. 

“Let me help.” Lance walks over to him and grabs the zip for the medsuit. Keith stands still for him, letting him unzip it fully and then peel it open. He gets to see Keith’s bare back, noting a few moles and slight freckling along his shoulders. They all disappear under his shirt as he pulls it on. 

He’s stepping out of his suit next and Lance anxiously twists his fingers together. Keith hums softly as he turns around, fingers tracing his thigh. There is a slightly indented, pink scar in his thigh. 

“Well, could be worse.” Keith shrugs and then pulls his pants on. “What were you apologizing for?”

“Huh?”

“I thought you were apologizing for getting shot at but you said that wasn’t it.” 

“It’s not.”

“Then?”

“...You asked me to not confess to you while I was dying. And I did.” Lance sighs. “I honestly thought I was gonna… y’know not make it. And I really wanted you to know how I felt.” 

“I can’t hold you at fault for that. I probably would’ve done the same.” He smiles weakly.

“Then why didn’t you want me to?”

“Because I don’t want you to just say it and for nothing to happen.” Keith crosses his arms. 

“So you _want_ to be something?”

“Of course I do.” Keith looks up at him. “I… I love you, Lance. So, I want to be with you for longer than a few minutes before you die on me.” He glances away as his shoulders hike up to his ears.

“Then what do you want?”

“What do _we_ want, you’re a part of this too.”

“Obviously we need to work on this communication thing. No more secrets.” Lance says and then Keith winces. 

“Okay, then I have a confession to make.”

“What?” Lance tilts his head. 

“There’s another reason I didn’t want us to tell the others about the body swap.”

“Another reason besides ‘not getting into trouble’?”

“Yeah.”

“And that’s?”

“If we told them, they’d probably figure out how to switch us back immediately. And I was _kinda_ trying to avoid talking to you about how I felt towards you.” 

“What? Why?”

“Well,” Keith sighs as his arms fall to his sides. “Even if I said something sooner, what is there for us to do in the middle of space? Take me to a space Denny’s, run by the Galran Empire?” 

“You really think there’s nothing for us to do out here?” Lance raises a brow.

“Not a lot really.” He shrugs.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Lance chuckles. “There’s plenty of things if you know where to look.”

“Like what?” Keith asks with a small smile playing on his lips.

“For one thing, I can hold your hand,” Lance says, taking his hand and threading their fingers together. “I can invite you to a pillow fort date, maybe catch a movie from the collection Pidge has.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It does huh?” Lance pulls him closer. Keith chews on his lip for a second before reaching up and cupping Lance’s jaw. Then he’s up on his toes pressing his lips to Lance’s. 

Lance sighs softly, kissing Keith back. This one is far more sweet compared to the desperate one he’d given him in the lion. It’s slow and gentle, trying to memorize the way the other feels against them. When Keith breaks away, Lance chases him for another and Keith happily continues. 

They kiss until there’s little air between them, both red in the face. Keith ducks his face into Lance’s shoulder with a soft laugh. Lance holds him close, rocking them back and forth.

“I want to be with you, Lance.” Keith murmurs. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“You wanna be my boyfriend?” Lance asks.

“Definitely.”

“You’re telling Shiro.” Lance chuckles.

“As long as you’re telling Hunk and Pidge.” Keith leans back and smiles up at him. He holds his hand and they start to walk out of the medbay.

“And don’t you ever trade bodies with me again.” Lance nudges him. 

“I’ll try not to. And since we’re being honest,” Keith leans up to whisper in his ear. “I wouldn’t mind being _in_ you again.” Lance sputters as Keith throws his head back and laughs loudly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnd that's all folks! Thank you so much for your patience with me for this last entry into the klance trope month <3
> 
> If you want to see more of my work, please go on and check out Stoneheart over here. It's a multi-chapter, slow burn, klance fic involving magick, curses, and a Prince Lance/"monster" Keith 
> 
> That said, I hope you all have a wonderful day and thank you again for being with me this past month <3
> 
> Feel free to talk to me in the comments below or over at demon-sushi on Tumblr

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to yell at me in the comments below or over at demon-sushi on Tumblr.


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